"mmmm. 







t^ 







m 



i 






I'AW: 



?;^ 






(:?5^fi^« 



m 









K\i 



LIBRARY OF CONGRESS, 

PRESENTED BY 

UNITED STATES 01 AMERICA. 



OFFICIAL PROCEEDINGS 

n 



AT THE 



DEDICATION OF THE STATUE 



OF 



DANIEL WEBSTER 



AT 




CONCORD, NEW HAMPSHIRE, 

On the 17th day of June, 
1886. 



16 2^ 



PUBLISHED BY ORDER OF THE GOVERNOR AND COUNCIL. 



MANCHESTER: 

JOHN B. CLARKE, PUBLIC PRINTER. 
1886. 



Executive Council Chamber, 

Concord, June 10, 1886. 

Ordered, That the secretaiy of state be authorized to emjiloy a sten- 
ographer to report the official proceedings to take place at the 
dedication of the statue of Daniel Webster, on the 17th instant, 
and to procure the publication of three thousand copies of said 
report. 

Attest : 

A. B. THOMPSON, 

Secretary of State. 



PRELIMINARY PROCEEDINGS. 



THE WEBSTER STATUE AND ITS HISTORY. 

BY B. W. BALL. 

We have as a nation reached a period of commemora- 
tion of our historic men. AUhough our national exist- 
ence involves but a single century, still that century 
in connection with the colonial period has been illus- 
trated bv a loiitr list of memorable Americans. The cap- 
itol at Washington and the various state capitols are 
being transformed into valhallas for commemorative pur- 
poses. These edifices and their precincts, together with 
the city parks of our great cities, arc the appropriate sites 
for the erection of memorial statues of the illustrious 
dead, and for this purpose they are being rapidly util- 
ized, Central Park, Kew York, conspicuously so. The 
nation is now amply able, by reason of its wealth and its 
multitude of artists and persons of fine testhetic culture, 
to fitly honor its great men departed. As has been said, 
brief as has been our national existence we have plenty 
of subjects for the commemorative sculptor and artist m 
stone, bronze, or pigments. All the periods of American 
history, from that of discovery and exploration down to 
the present time, have abounded in such subjects. Prim- 



6 STATUE OF DANIEL WEBSTER. 

itive Greece, in city and country both, was literally pop- 
ulous with statues in stone and bronze of its famous men. 
Primitive Athens, in particular, was full of carven forms 

" that mocked the eternal dead 
In marble immortality." 

No objects are so impressive as the statues of great 
men, and none exert so salutary and potent an influence 
on the younger generations. In all the metropolitan 
cities of Europe the traveler is confronted by memorial 
statues of the great men whose words and deeds have 
been a part of his education ; and already in our chiet 
American cities the eye is attracted by the carven sem- 
blances of the most famous men of this new world repub- 
lic. Central Park, New York, as the pleasure-ground of 
that polyglot, many-nationed metropolis, is appropriately 
enough hospitable to the memorial statues of the great 
men of all countries, whether European or American. 

" In that free Pantheon of smi and air," 

as Bayard Taylor calls it, a statue of the world-poet, 
Shakespeare, who, by the way, belongs to this American 
division of the great English-speaking world as much as 
he does to the home branch of our race, was dedicated 

in 1872. 

" There in his ri,o-ht he stands ! 
No breadth of earth-dividing seas can bar 
The breeze of morning or the morning star 
From visiting our lands." 

What Shakespeare was in the domain of poetry and 
the imagination, that was Webster in the tield of states- 
manship. 



PRELIMINARY PROCEEDINGS. 7 

Thus much by way of general remark on the subject 
of permanent memorials of historic men. 

The centennial anniversary of the birth of Webster, 
which occurred January 18, 1882, was generally cele- 
brated throughout the country. The Webster legend, so 
to speak, was everywhere revived. After an interval of 
thirty most eventful years, full of change, the country 
seemed again to have fallen under the spell of Webster's 
genius. The younger generation, to whom he was 
purely a historic character, had an opportunity to listen 
to eloquent speakers who had lived in Webster's day, 
and who could testify of their own personal knowledge 
to his marvelous influence and power. Webster clubs 
and Webster historical societies, which had been organ- 
ized to keep his memory fresh, everywhere caused the 
occasion to be fitly celebrated by public meetings and 
memorial addresses. The Webster Club at Concord, 
l!^. H., observed the centennial anniversary of Webster's 
nativity by a public meeting at White's Opera House. 
The orator of the occasion was Col. John H. George. 
His address was noteworthy among the numerous ad- 
dresses which were delivered, because it called the atten- 
tion of the people of New Hampshire to the fact that the 
native state of Webster was without a single memorial 
statue of her greatest son. 

The following is the passage in Col. George's address 
which, by eloquently pointing out the above deficiency, 
was the initial step in the history of the erection of the 
Webster statue, now so conspicuous an object in the 
State-house grounds of his native state : " There is a 
bronze statue of Webster," said Col. George, " by Pow- 



8 STATUE OF DANIEL WEBSTER, 

ers, which was lost at sea. It lies at the bottom of the 
Atlantic Ocean, somewhere in the vicinity of the tele- 
graphic cable, as we are told. A duplicate of it is stand- 
ins- in the state-house grounds in Boston. Of this lost 
statue Hawthorne remarks in his ' Italian Notes ' : ' There 
is an expression of quiet, solid, massive strength in the 
whole figure ; a deep, pervading energy which any exag- 
ireration of g-esture would lessen aud lower. He looks 
like a pillar of state. The face is very grand, very Web- 
ster, stern and awful, because he is in the act of meeting 
a crisis, yet with the warmth of a great heart glowing 
through it. Happy is Webster to have been so truly aud 
adequately sculptured. Happy the sculptor in such a 
subject, with which no idealization of a demi-god could 
have supplied him. Perhaps the statue at the bottom of 
the sea will be cast up in some future age, when the pres- 
ent race of man is forgotten, and, if so, that far posterity 
will look up to us as a grander race than we find our- 
selves.' Apropos of this extract, we are reminded that 
the state of Webster's nativity lacks to this day a monu- 
mental statue of her greatest son. It is a lack that 
should no longer be permitted to disgrace us. While 
Boston and New York have erected on most conspicuous 
sites colossal bronze statues to the memory of Webster as 
among the worthiest of great Americans, to stand carved 
or cast in enduring material for the inspection of pos- 
terity, this his native state has erected no monument 
illustrative of her appreciation of the services of her 
ablest son in the cause of constitutional liberty. There 
should be a monumental statue here at the state capital, 
and also at his birthplace, where his form would most 



PRELIMINARY PROCEEDINGS. 



iippropriately stand, sweeping with its gaze the broad 
intervals which he loved so well, and so often frequented 
for rest and recreation during his arduous career as a 
public man. His sublime form would be the most appro- 
priate genius loci of our sublime local scenery." 

It was these eloquent words which, falling under the 
eye of Mr. Cheney, determined him to carry into effect a 
purpose which he had long entertained of presenting to 
his native state a statue of her greatest citizen, whom 
Mr. Cheney not only admired in common with the rest 
of his countrymen as a great statesman, but whom he 
also loved as a personal friend who had interested him- 
self in his own welfare as a business man. The commis- 
sion to execute the statue was at first given to the well- 
knowm Boston sculptor, the late Martin Milmore, but he 
died before the completion of his model. His brother 
Joseph was employed to finish the work, but he too was 
prevented by death from putting the finishing touch to 
the model. Thus the business of carrying into effect Mr. 
Cheney's plan had to be commenced de novo. Meantime, 
to secure the final consummation of his plan, and pre- 
vent its failure in any contingency, Mr. Cheney placed 
its execution in the hands of three trustees, viz., Hon. 
George W. Is^esmith, John M. Hill, Esq., and Cob John 
H. George, by the following deed of trust : — 

Whereas, It is now and long has been the desire and intention of 
the undersigned, Benjamin Pierce Cheney, formerly of Hillsborough, 
in the county of Hillsljorough and state of New Hampshire, and now 
of Boston, in the county of Suffolk and commonwealth of Massachu- 
setts, to procure a bronze statue of Daniel Webster, and, with the 
permission of the state, to erect the same upon a fitting pedestal 
with permanent granite foundations, in the state-house yard in Con- 
cord, New Hampshire ; and 



10 STATUE OF DANIEL WEBSTEK. 

Whereas, Unexpected delays have occurred in cari-ying such inten- 
tion into eftec't, and it is the wish of said Clieney to jJi'ovide against 
the defeat of said intention by any contingency incident to the uncer- 
tainty of life or otherwise ; and 

Whereas, A conti-act has been negotiated with Thomas Ball, who 
is now in Europe, for furnishing said statue for the sum of $8,000, 
with the cost of transiDortation added, to be comijleted, if practicable, 
as early as November, 1885 ; 

Now, for the purpose of carrying the intention aforesaid into full 
eflfect, this contract between said Cheney, party of the first part, and 
George W. Nesmith, of Franklin, and John M. Hill and John H. 
George, both of Concord, and all in the county of Merrimack in the 
state of New Hampshire, parties of the second jjart, witnesseth : 

The fii'st pai'ty, in consideration of the agreements of the second 
parties, herein contained, will, as soon as shall be practicable, pro- 
cure and place in the hands of the second i:)arties a bronze statue of 
Daniel Webster, which shall l)e placed upon a suitable pedestal, I'est- 
ing on a permanent granite foundation, in the yard of the state housfe 
in said Concord, and said statue is never to be removed from said 
location. After it shall be completed and erected as aforesaid, it 
shall be presented by said second parties to the state of Webster's 
birth, to the care and custody of which state it shall thus be forever 
committed, with such ceremonies as shall seem best adapted to i^er- 
petuate the memory and honor the patriotism of New Hampshire's 
greatest son and our country's foremost statesman. If there shall 
be any failure to carry into effect and complete all of the above 
agreements and intentions before the decease of said first party, it is 
directed and agreed that the same may then be carried into full eft'ect 
and completed Ijy said jjarties of tlie second part, at the expense of 
the first party or his estate. 

In case of the death or incapacity of any of the trustees herein 
named, befoi-e the completion of said statue and its erection, and the 
conveyance to the state as afoi'esaid, the surviving trustees or trus- 
tee may carry into effect this agreement ; or they may, if they pre- 
fer, ajjjjoint some suitable person or persons to fill the vacancy or 
vacancies thus occurring, who, with such surviving trustees or trus- 
tee, may perform the agreements of the second parties herein con- 
tained. And said second parties, in consideration of the aforesaid 
agreements of the lirst party, accept the trust above si)ecified, and 
on the procurement of said statue by said first party, or by his estate, 
and its delivery with said pedestal and said foundation to said second 
parties, will cause the same to be erected as above provided, and 
will convey the same, when so erected, to the state of New Ilamp- 



PRELIMINARY PROCEEDINGS. H 

shire, in accordance with the desire and intention of the first party, 
as above set forth. 

In witness whereof said parties have hereto interchangeably .set 
their hands and seals this loth day of February, 1885. 

At this point, the eminent American sculptor, Thomas 
Ball, who was at the time a resident of Florence, Italy, 
was commissioned hy cable to model the statue, being 
governed as to its proportions and characteristics by the 
statue of Franklin in City Hall yard, Boston. The statue 
was to be completed and ready for shipment in season for 
its dedication on January 18 of the current year, which 
was the anniversary of Webster's birth. But finally 
the dedication of it was postponed to the seventeenth of 
June, the anniversary of the battle of Bunker Hill, with 
wdiich Webster had forever hnked his name by his Bun- 
ker Hill Monument addresses. Tlie statue was cast in 
Munich, so famous for its exquisite bronze castings. It 
was regarded as so perfect a work of art, that it was 
placed on exhibition in the Bavarian capital by general 
request. The Jovine proportions of Webster's head and 
form of course made the statue of him the cynosure of 
an admiring public gaze, as well as its exquisite work- 
manship. There was only one other statue in Germany 
at the time equally noteworthy, on account of its impos- 
ing and magnificent proportions and aspect, viz., that of 
the poet Goethe, at Frankfurt-on-the-Main, who had the 
same commanding virile beauty which characterized 
Webster. He, too, like Webster, struck all beholders 
with a thrill of admiration by his personal grandeur, so 
much so, that the first Napoleon on seeing him exclaimed, 
" You are a man!'' 



12 STATUE OF DANIEL WEBSTER. 

The figure is eight feet in height and weighs two 
thousand pounds ; it stands upon a light bronze base, 
the dimensions of which are thirty-two by thirty inches. 
Webster is arrayed in an old-style dress suit. His ample 
coat is closed around him by the two central buttons. It 
has broad lapels, and its large and rolling collar discloses a 
plain shirt bosom. The bottom of the vest is seen below 
the coat, and the trousers are full and flowing. The neck 
is dressed with a stock, with a broad, turned-down collar. 
The arms are at the sides, the thumb and index finger of 
the right hand being opened, with the remaining fingers 
partially closed. The left hand holds a manuscript partly 
opened. The head represents Webster in his closing 
years, and the features are said by those who knew him 
to be extremely lifelike and correct. The pose is massive 
and commanding, and is pronounced as unexceptionable. 
The head is slio-htlv turned to the rio-ht, the face is smooth, 
and the expression is of the highest intellectual character. 
In the rear of the right leg is an irregular pile of books 
surmounted by manuscript. 

The pedestal was cut from the finest of Concord granite 
by the Granite Railway Company of this city ; Henry E. 
Sheldon is agent, and Joseph H. Pearce superintendent. 
The plans for the pedestal were drawn by John A. Fox, 
the well-known Boston architect, and the work was exe- 
cuted under his direction. The base is a single stone 
al)()ut nine feet square, weighing eleven tons, and show- 
ing cut work of some six inches above ground. The 
plintli is six and one half feet square, four feet high, and 
weighs thirteen tons. It has beveled edges and a series 
of finely cut moldings. The die is four and one quarter 



PRELIMINARY PROCEEDINGS. 13 

feet square and five and one quarter feet high, and taper- 
ino- toward the top. On the front are the words, cut in 
polished letters : — 

DANIEL 
WEBSTER 

On the other sides are panels of fine government bronze of a light 
shade. On the north one the coat-of-arms of New Hampshire and 
the legend, 

BORN 
AT SALISBURY, NEW HAMPSHUIE, 

JANUARY 18, 1782. 

On the south tablet is the coat-of-arms of the state of Massachu- 
setts and the inscription, 

DIED AT 
MARSHFIELD, MASSACHUSETTS, 

OCTOBER 24, 1852. 

On the west side is the following : — 

PRESENTED BY 

BENJAI^IIN PIERCE CHENEY 

TO THE STATE OF NEW HAMPSHIRE, 
JANUARY 18, 1886. 

The whole height of the base and statue is seventeen 
and one eighth feet, and the total cost was $12,000. 

The legislature, by the following resolves, authorized 
the governor and council to select the site for the 
statue : — 

A Joint Resolution Granting a Tract of Land for the Loca- 
tion OF A Monument of Daniel AV^ebster. 

Be it Resolved by the Senate and House of Representatives in General 

Court convened : 

Section 1. That there be granted and set apart forever a tract of 
land not exceeding two rods square, in some convenient part of the 
State-house yard in Concord, to be selected by the governor and 
council, suitable for the permanent erection of a bronze nionument 
of Daniel Webster, to be donated and furnished by Benjamin Pierce 
Cheney, Esq., of Boston. 



14 STATUE OF DANIEL WEBSTER. 

Sect. 2. That the custody and future protective care of said 
monument shall be assumed and forever hereafter remain and be 
vested in the governor and council of this state for the time being, 
or in a board of trustees of their appointment. 

[Approved August 8, 1883.] 

On February 11, 1886, the governor and council 
passed the follo^Ying : — 

Voted, That in accordance with chapter 125, laws of 1883, the plan 
of the location of the AVebster statue submitted to the board to-day- 
be and is hereby approved ; and that a committee consisting of the 
governor and Councilor Kimball be appointed to prepare the site 
for the reception of the statue, and that the plan of the same be 
deposited in the office of the secretary of state. 

The legislature at its last session made provision for 
the reception and dedication of the statue. On July 8, 
General Oilman Marston, of Exeter, offered in the house 
a joint resolution providing for the appointment of a 
joint committee of the senate and house of representa- 
tives, with authority to make arrangements for the recep- 
tion and dedication of the statue of Daniel Webster, 
presented to the state by Benjamin Pierce Cheney. 
August 28, the house judiciary committee reported the 
resolution, which was passed under a suspension of the 
rules, and subsequently the same day was passed by the 
senate. 

Tlie following is the resolution : — 

Joint Ri<:soluti()N Relative to the Reception and Dedication 
OF the Statue of Daniel Webster. 

Resolved by Ike Senate and House of BepresetUatives in General 

Court convened : 

That a joint conniiittee, consisting of five members of the house, 
<)f which the si)eaker shall be one, and such as tlie senate may join, 
be appointed with authority to make proper arrangements for the 



PRELIMINARY PROCEEDINGS. 15 

reception and dedication of the statue of Daniel Webster, to be pre- 
sented to the state of Kew Hampshire by Benjamin Pierce Cheney, 
and that the necessary expenses authorized by said committee be 
audited and approved by the governor and council, and paid from the 
state treasury. 

[Approved August 28, 1885.] 

The same day the speaker announced the special com- 
mittee on the part of the house as follows : Messrs. Mars- 
ton of Exeter, Hutchins of Laconia, McDutfee of Roch- 
ester, Aldrich of Littleton, and Stone of Andover ; and 
the senate appointed on their part Senators Pike, Kent, 
Chamberlain, Bingham, and Hinds. The location of the 
statue was fixed by the governor and council. 



THE DEDICATION EXERCISES. 



THE PROCESSION. 

The procession moved up Main street about half past 
twelve o'clock, and returned one hour later. The streets 
along which it passed were lined with people, and the fine 
appearance made by the ISTational Guard, the Amoskeag 
Veterans, and the Manchester Cadets, called forth hearty 
applause. General Ayling's efficiency as chief marshal 
aided in making the parade a line success, and his staff 
ably seconded his effiDrts. The brigade returned to camp 
after the line of march was ended, and the Manchester 
companies repaired to Phenix Hall, where they dined. 
The line of march and the organizations and guests were 
as follows : — 

LINE OF MARCH. 

Up Main street to Penacook street ; eounterniarch on Main street to 
Washington street; through Washington street to State street; 
doAvn State street to Thorndike street ; through Thorndike street 
to Main sti-eet; vip IMain street to the state-house park. 

OFFICERS. 

(ieneral A. D. Ayling, Concord, chief marshal. 

Colonel Solon A. Carter, Concord, chief of staff. 

Aides.— Gen. John W. Sturtevant, Keene ; Gen. IMarshall C. 

Wentworth, Jackson; Cen. Ceorge H. Calley, riymouth ; Col. 

Converse J. Smith, Major Hiram F. Gerrish, James II. French, 

Arthur C. Stewart, Concord; Gen. Solon A. Wilkinson, Keene ; 



THE DEDICATION EXERCISES. 17 

Gen. Gilman B. Johnson, Col. Rufns P. Staniels, Concord: Col. 
Frank G. Clarke, Peterborough ; Howard L. Porter, Dr. F. A. 
Stillings, John B. Gilman, Everett W. Willard, William F. 
Thayer, James Minot, William F. Challis, William M. Mason, 
Edward P. Comins, Concord. 

FIRST BRIGADE X. H. NATIONAL GUARD. 

Brig. Gen. Daniel M. White, Peterborough, commanding; Lieut. 
Col. George W. Gould, JNIanchester, assistant adjutant-general ; 
Major Frank W. Russell, Plymouth, assistant inspector-general ; 
Major William H. Cheever, Nashua, inspector of rifle jJi'actice ; 
Lieut. Col. George Cook, Concord, medical director; INIajor 
Daniel B. Donovan, Concord, judge-advocate; Capt. Louis C. 
Merrill, Manchester, quartermaster ; Capt. Willis D.Thompson, 
Concord, commissary; Capt. Richard M. Scammon, Exeter, Capt. 
Daniel H. Gienty, Concord, aides-de-camp. 

NON-COMMISSIONED STAFF. 

Harley B. Roby, Concord, brigade sergeant-major; Charles A. 
Hall, Concord, brigade quartermaster-sergeant ; George M. Davis, 
Manchester, brigade hospital steward ; John T. Fiske, Concord, 
brigade color-sergeant; Henry A. Brown, Penacook, brigade 
bugler. 

THIRD REGENIENT. 

Third Regiment Band, of Concord. 

FIELD AND STAFF. 

Col. J. N. Patterson, Concord; Lieut. Col. True Sanborn, Jr., Chi- 
chester; Maj. Nathan H. Randlett, Lebanon. 

Fred S. Hall, Runniey, adjutant; Harry B. Cilley, Concord, quarter- 
master; George R. Leavitt, Laconia, paymaster; Irving A. Wat- 
son, Concord, surgeon ; Frank T. Moifett, Littleton, assistant 
surgeon; Daniel C. Roberts, Concoi'd, chaplain. 

HONORARY STAFF. 

Col. J. E. Pecker, Concord; Col. F. C. Churchill, Lebanon; Col. 
George H. Stowell, Claremont; Col. D. C. Jewell, Suncook ; Col. 
C. H. Greenleaf, Franconia; Col. W. S. Pillsbury, Derry ; Col. 
O. P. Patten, Kingston ; Col. W. H. Stinson, Dunbarton ; ]\Iajoi* 
C. F. Hildreth, Suncook ; Col. C. J. Smith, Concord ; Col. F. E. 
Kaley, Milford. 



18 STATUE OF DANIEL WEBSTER. 

NON-COMMISSIONED STAFF. 

Robert II. Rolfe, Concord, sergeant-major; William O. Stevens, 
Franklin Falls, quartermaster-sergeant; Arthur M. Dodge, Til ton, 
commissary-sergeant ; J. Henry Story, Laconia, hospital steward ; 
James F. Clark, Concord, drum major; Henry G. Blaisdell, Con- 
cord, bandmaster ; Arthur F. Nevers, Concord, deputy band- 
master. 

LINE OFFICERS. 

Company A, New London : William A. Messer, captain ; Willard 
Reed, first lieutenant ; Baxter Gay, second lieutenant. 

Company F, Littleton : John T. Simpson, captain; Frank C. Wil- 
liams, first lieutenant; Henry E. Bartlett, second lieutenant. 

Company C, Concord: Edward H. Dixon, captain; Charles P. 
Hadley, first lieutenant; John E. Gove, second lieutenant. 

Company D, Pittsfield : William A. Yeaton, ca^^tain ; Walter Lang- 
maid, fii'st lieutenant ; Forest F. Hill, second lieutenant. 

Company G, Lebanon: Charles H. Clough, captain: Eugene S. 
Downes, first lieutenant ; George A. Freeto, second lieutenant. 

Comjiany K, Wolfeborougli : Josejoh Lewando, captain ; Charles L. 
Home, first lieutenant. 

Company E, Plymouth: George H. Colby, captain; Erastus B. 
Dearborn, first lieutenant; Henry S. Arris, second lieutenant. 

Compau}^ H, Franklin Falls : George N. Cheever, captain ; Amos S. 
Ripley, first lieutenant ; IloUis K. Smith, second lieutenant. 

FIRST REGIMENT. 
First Regiment Band, of JVIanchester. 

FIELD AND STAFF. 

Col. John B. Hall, Manchester; Lieut. Col. G. M. L. Lane, Manches- 
ter; Maj. Patrick A. Devine, Manchester. 

John Gannon, Jr., Manchester, adjutant; AVilliam G. Mason, Man- 
chester, quai-termaster ; Hervey M. Bennett, Manchester, paymas- 
ter ; William M. Pal'sons, Manchester, surgeon ; .Tames Sullivan, 
Manchester, assistant sui'geon. 

N( )N-COMMISSIONED STAFF. 

Louis Stevens, Manchester, sergeant-major; A. E. J, Hurd, Man- 
chester, hospital steward ; Bart. Gannon, Manchester, commissary- 
sergeant; H. D. Gordon, Manclu^ster. Ijandmaster; F. H. Pike, 
Manchester, drum m:ijor. 



THE DEDICATION EXERCISES. 19 

LINE OFFICERS. 

Company A, Dover: G. H. Demeritt, caiitain ; M. J. Galligan, first 

lieutenant ; J. H. Ingraham, .second lieutenant. 
Company E, Manchester : F. \V. McAllister, captain ; O. I. Ellsworth, 

first lieutenant; F. AY. Tebbetts, second lieutenant. 
Company B, Manchester: D. F. Shea, captain; E. P. Bagley, first 

lieutenant; J. F. Gleason, second lieutenant. 
Company D, Exeter: A. F. Cooper, captain; G. E. Warren, first 

lieutenant; A. N. Dow, second lieutenant. 
Company F, Derry : R. W. Pillsbury, captain ; J. E. Webster, first 

lieutenant; J. E. Fitzgerald, second lieutenant. 
Company H, Great Falls : J. Mack, captain ; William J. Andrews, 

first lieutenant ; C. W. Willey, second lieutenant. 
Company C, Goffstown : L. S. Bidwell, captain ; S. H. Balch, first 

lieutenant; G. E. Whitney, second lieutenant. 
Company K, Manchester: J. H. Wales, Jr., captain; P. H. O'Mal- 

ley, first lieutenant; A. F. Eaton, second lieutenant. 

Drum Corps. 

HIGH SCHOOL CADETS OF MANCHESTER. 

George L. Fox, captain ; Minot O. Simons, first lieutenant; Lewis 
Crockett, second lieutenant. 

Manchester War A^eterans Driun Corps. 

SECOND REGIMENT. 
Second Regiment Band, of Nashua. 

FIELD AND STAFF. 

Col. Elbridge J. Copp, Nashua; Lieut. Col. Albert AV. Metcalf, 
Keene; Maj. Jason E. Tolles, Nashua. 

AVilliam E. Spaulding, Nashua, adjutant; George P. Kimball, 
Nashua, quartermaster; Ashton AA^ Rounsevel, Newport, paymas- 
ter; Georo-e W. Flagg, Keene, surgeon; AAlUiam H. Nute, Farm- 
ington, assistant surgeon; George AV. Grover, Nashua, chaplain. 

NON-COMMISSIONED STAFF. 

Charles E. Faxon, Nashua, sergeant-major; Edward M. Hunter, 
Newport, quartermaster-sergeant; Charles A. Roby, Nashua, com- 
missary-sergeant ; Charles G. Farrar, Keene, hospital steward ; 
Frank E. Jackman, Nashua, drum major; Dana P. Barker, Hills- 
borough, color-sergeant; AVillard A. Cummings, Nashua, band- 
master. 



20 STATUE OF DANIEL WEBSTER. 

LINE OFFICERS. 

Company C, Winchester: Amos Lawrence, cai:)tain ; Charles D. 

Seaver, first lieviten ant ; Hemy C. Tenne}', second lieutenant. 
Company I, Nashua: Edwin H. Parmenter, captain; Eugene H. 

Saunders, first lieutenant; Willis H. Goodspeed, second lieutenant. 
Company E, Farmington : Eugene W. Emerson, captain ; Charles H. 

Pitman, first lieutenant; Charles W. Leighton, second lieutenant. 
Company E, Rochester: Isaac D. Piercy, captain; Fred L. Chesley, 

first lieutenant; Horatio L. Cate, second lieutenant. 
Company D, Newport: Fred W. Cheney, captain; Ira Stowell, first 

lieutenant ; Bela Nettleton, second lieutenant. 
Company K, Hillsborough: Henry P. Whitaker, captain; Leander 

Emery, first lieutenant; Loren E. Nichols, second lieutenant. 
Company H, Keene : Jerry P. Wellman, captain; Frank Chapman, 

first lieutenant; Elbridge A. Shaw, second lieutenant. 
Company G, Keene : Francis O. Nims, captain ; Edward P. Kimball, 

first lieutenant ; Charles W. Starkey, second lieutenant. 

ARTILLERY. 

First Battery, of :\ranchester, Capt. S. S. Piper commanding. Se- 
nior first lieutenant, Edward H. Currier; junior first lieutenant, 
Silas R. Wallace; second lieutenant, John A. Barker. 

CAVALRY. 

Company A, of Peterborough : Ervin H. Smith, captain ; Charles 

B. Davis, first lieutenant; James E. Saunders, second lieutenant. 

OTHER ORGANIZATIONS, AND GUESTS. 
Highland Band, of Lake Village. 

AMOSKEACt veterans of MANCHESTER. 

Lewis Simons, major; John B. Abbott, adjutant; Alfred G. Fair- 
banks, quartermaster ; Charles L.Harmon, paymaster; Dr. Emil 
Custer, surgeon; Dr., George D. Towne, assistant sm-geon ; Rev. 

C. W. Heizer, chaplain; Henry Robinson, judge-advocate; Ira A. 
Moore, quartermaster-sergeant; George E. Hall, sergeant-major; 
Dr. H. C. Canney, Edward L. Kimball, standard-bearers. 

Company A: E. F. Trow, captain; A. T. Pierce, first lieutenant; 

B. F. Clark, second lieutenant. 
Company B: Moses AVadleigh, captain; David Wadsworth, first 

lieutenant ; George A. Leighton, second lieutenant. 
Company C : Captain Hiram Forsaitli in eonunand. 



THE DEDICATION EXERCISES, 21 

MANCHESTER CADETS. 

F. L. Downs, captain ; G. N. Burpee, first lieutenant; E. T. Knowl- 
ton, second lieutenant. 

THE STAFF OF GOVERNOR CURRIER. 

]\Iaj. Gen. Augustus D. Ayling, Concord, adjutant-general; Brig. 
Gen. Elbert Wheeler, Nashua, inspector-general; Brig. Gen. 
Charles Williams, Manchester, quartermaster-general ; Brig. Gen. 
George W. Pierce, Winchester, surgeon-general ; Brig. Gen. Philip 
Carpenter, Lancaster, judge-advocate-general ; Brig. Gen. Frank 
T. Brown, Whitefield, commissary-general ; Col. Frank E. Kaley, 
Milford, Col. Hiram H. Dow, Conway, Col. George G. Davis, 
Marlborough, Col. Alfred A. Collins, Danville, aides-de-camp. 

GOV. CURRIER AND GUESTS OF THE STATE IN CARRIAGES. 

Gov. Moody Currier, of Manchester; Hon. George W. Nesmith, of 
Franklin; B. P. Cheney, Esq., of Boston; Rev. Samuel C. Bart- 
lett, D. D., of Hanover. 

Gen. Gilman Marston, of Exeter, chairman of the legislative com- 
mittee; Gov. George D. Robinson, of Chicopee, Mass. ; Hon. John 
A. Bingham, of Ohio, ex-minister to Japan. 

Adjt. Gen. Dalton, Lieut. Gen. A. T. Holt, and Col. Whipple, of 
Gov. Robinson's staft". 

Col. Rockwell, Col. Currier, and Col. Stearns, of Gov. Robinson's 
staff. 

Gov. Daniel B. Hill, of New York; W. G. Rice, the governor's pri- 
vate secretary ; Hon. Robert A. Maxwell, superintendent of the 
insurance department of New York ; Hon. Frank Jones, of Ports- 
mouth. 

Hon. Harry Bingham, of Littleton, of the legislative committee; 
Hon. John Wentworth, of Chicago, Hon. William E. Chandler, of 
Concord. 

Hon. Chester Pike, of Cornish, of the legislative committee ; Gov. 
Samuel E. Pingree, of Hartford, Vt., Gov. Frederick A. Robie, of 
Gorham, Me., Lieut. Gov. Oliver Ames, of North Easton, Mass. 

Hon. Edgar Aldrich, of Littleton, of the legislative committee; 
Charles C. Coffin, Esq., of Boston, Hon. Charles Levi Woodbury, 
of Boston, Judge T. P. Redfield, of the Vermont supreme court. 

Hon. Henry O. Kent, of Lancaster, naval officer of the port of Bos- 
ton; Hon. Marshall P. Wilder, of Boston, ex-Gov. Alexander H. 
Rice, of Boston. 



22 STATUE OF DANIEL WEBSTER. 

George W. Stone, Esq., of Andover, of the legislative committee; 
Hon. George B. Loring, of Boston, Hon. George A. Bruce, of 
Somerville, Mass., B. F. Ayer, Esq., of Chicago. 

Hon. W. H. W. Hinds, of INIilford, of the legislative committee ; 
Hon. Mellen Chamberlain, of Boston ; Hon. A. E. Pillsbury, pres- 
ident of the Massachusetts senate; Hon. J. Q. A. Brackett, 
speaker of the Massachusetts house of representatives. 

Hon. William H. Chamberlain, of Keene, of the legislative com- 
mittee; Judge Daniel Clark, of Manchester, Hon. Frank Haven, 
of Boston. 

Hon. John M. Hill, of Concord, one of the trustees of the statue; 
John A. Fox, of Boston, architect of the pedestal ; Gilman Cheney 
and son, of JMontreal, brother of the donor of the statue. 

Ex-U. S. Senator Edward H. Rollins, of Concord; Gen. E. G. Gra- 
ham, United States Army; Hon. J. G. Blake, M. D., of Boston. 

Ex-U. S. Senator James W. Patterson, of Hanover, Hon. Charles 
Theodore Russell, of Boston, Hon. Roland G. Usher, of Concord, 
Mass., Hon. A. R. Brown, of Boston. 

Hon. George A. Marden, of Lowell, JMass. ; Hon. Peter Butler, 
assistant U. S. treasurer at Boston; Hon. E. A. Kingsbury, of the 
Massachusetts house of representatives. 

Hon. E. J. Sherman, attorney -general of Massachusetts; Hon. Dan- 
iel S. Richardson, of Lowell, Hon. Isaac Bradford, of Boston, Rev. 
T. B. Lambert, D. c, chaplain United States Navy. 

Hon. Edgar H. Woodman, mayor of Concord; Hon. Hugh O'Brien, 
mayor of Boston ; Hon. Frank Burns, mayor of Somerville, Mass. ; 
Hon. Peter B. Olney, of Boston. 

Judge Edward Bennett, of Boston, W. C. Shepard, of North Scitii- 
ate, Mass., Hon. N. S. Wheeler, of Boston; Hon. Stephen M. 
Allen, of Boston, of the Webster Historical Society of Boston. 

Hon. Henry B. Pierce, secretary of state of Massachusetts; Hon. 
A. A. Folsom, of Boston, superintendent of the Boston & Provi- 
dence Railroad ; Nathaniel W. Ladd, Esq., of Boston, secretary of 
the Webster Historical Society ; Rev. William C. Winslow, histo- 
i-iograi^her of that societj'. 

Hon. G. H. Burleigh, of Boston, N. Stafford, of Boston, Hon. Edwin 
Tuck, of Lowell; Hon. Luther R. Marsh, president of the Ncav 
York park commission and Webster's New York laAv partner ; Hon. 
Edwin T. Thomas, of Boston. 

Ex-Gov. Berry, of Bristol, and ex-Govs. Frederick Smyth, James A. 
Weston, and Person C. Cheney, of Manchester. 

Ex-Govs. Benjamin F. Prescott, of Ep])ing, and Samuel W. Hale, of 
Keene, ex-U. S. Senator Bainbridgc Wadlcigh. 



THE DEDICATION EXERCISES. 23 

Hon. W. H. H. Allen, of Clavemont, Hon. Isaac W. Smith, of ]Man- 
fhester, Hon. Lewis W. Clark, of Manchester, and Hon. A. P. 
Cai-penter, of Concord, judges of the suj^reme court. 

Hon. Isaac N. Blodgett, of Franklin, and Hon. George A. Bingham, 
of Littleton, judges of the supreme court ; Hon. Jonathan E. Sar- 
gent, of Concord, and Hon. Jeremiah Smith, of Dover, ex-judges 
of the supreme court. 

Hon. William L. Foster, of Concord, Hon. Charles R. Morrison, of 
Manchester, Hon. Charles W. "Woodman, of Dover, and Hon. 
William S. Ladd, of Lancaster, ex-judges of the supreme court. 

Ex-Congressmen Daniel ]Marcy, of Portsmouth, Ellery A. Hibbard, 
of Laconia, James F. Briggs, of Manchester, Joshua G. Hall, of 
Dover. 

Congressman Martin A. Haynes, of Lake Village ; ex-Congressmen 
Aaron F. Stevens, of Nashua, Samuel X. Bell, of Manchester, 
Mason W. Tappan, of Bradford. 

Ex-Congressmen Ossian Ray and Jacob Benton, of Lancaster; Hon. 
John G. Sinclair, of Orlando, Fla., Hon. Frank A. McKean, of 
Nashua. 

Col. jNIartin V. B. Edgerly, of Manchester, Hon. Charles W. Talpey, 
of Farmington, Hon. Mortier L. Morrison, of Peterborough, Hon. 
Peter Upton, of Jaftrey, Hon. John W. Jewell, of Strafltbrd, mem- 
bers of Gov. Currier's coimcil. 



THE UNVEILII^G. 

The Manchester Cadets marched up the entrance path, 
followed by the Highland Band and Anioskeag Veterans, 
and formed on either side of the walk. To the strains of 
"Hail to the Chief" the procession marched through the 
ranks, led by Governor Currier, who was followed by the 
orator of the day and distinguished guests. They were 
greeted with applause and cheers by the audience, which 
by this time filled the grand stand, the state-house park, 
and adjoining streets as far as could be seen from the 
speakers' stand. 

At two o'clock p. M. the assembly was called to order 



24 STATUE OF DANIEL WEBSTER. 

by Gen. Gilman Marston, chairman of the legislative 
committee, who announced the following 

OFFICERS OF THE DAY. 

President. — Hon. George W. Nesmith, of Franklin. 

Vice-Presidents. — Gen. Gilman Marston, of Exeter, and Hon. 
Harry Bingham, of Littleton. 

Secretaries. — Hon. Henry O. Kent, of Lancaster, and George W. 
Stone, Esq., of Andover. 

General Marston then requested all present to observe 
silence while prayer was being offered. 

Prayer by Rt. Rev. William W. Mies, D. D., Bishop 
of the Diocese of ISTew Hampshire : — 

Our Father, who art in lieaven, hallowed be thy name. Thy 
kingdom come. Thy will be done on earth, as it is in heaven. Give 
us this day our daily bread. And forgive us our trespasses, as we 
forgive those who trespass against us. And lead us not into temp- 
tation, but deliver us from evil ; for thine is the kingdom, and 
the power, and the glory, for ever and ever. Amen. 

Almighty God, who in the former time leddest our fathers forth 
into a wealthy place, and didst set their feet in a large room, give 
thy grace, we humbly beseech thee, to us, their cliildren, that we 
may always apjn-ove ourselves a people mindful of thy favor and 
o-lad to do thy will. Bless our land with honorable industry, sound 
learning, and pure manners. Defend our liberties, preserve our 
unity. Save us from violence, discord, and confusion, from pride 
and arrogancy, and fi-om every evil way. Incline the hearts of em- 
ployers and of those whom they employ to nuitual forbearance, fair- 
ness, and good will. Fashion into one happy people the multitudes 
brought hither, of many kindreds and tongues. Endue with the 
spirit of wisdom those wliom we intrust in thy name Avith the author- 
ity of governance, to the end that there be peace at home, and that 
we keep our phice among the nations of the earth. In the time of 
prosperity temper our self-conficUince with thankfulness, and in the 
day of trouble suller not our trust in thee to fail. 

Ill particular Ave invoke thine especial blessing upon this state in 
Avliich we dwell, and ii])on the peoiile thereof, with the civil authori- 
ties and upon all tliosc likew ise ^vh() have gone forth from these their 



THE DEDICATION EXERCISES. 25 

homes. Imbue lis with a spirit of loyalty and of love. Give unto 
us high aims and a generous mind, that we may seek ever the best 
things, and may study the common weal. To the college of this 
state, and to all schools of good learning among us, grant thine espe- 
cial blessing. Deepen in all our hearts a loving interest in their 
work. Do thou, O our God, and our fathers' God, without whom 
nothing is strong, nothing is holy, strengthen these schools of sound 
learning. And establish them, and l)uild them up, and make their 
usefulness to be increased to many generations. Help thou the help- 
less. Strengthen with thy Spirit those who laVjor for the sick, for the 
orphans, and the poor ; and grant to every work of mercy an even 
course. Reward thou those who have done or designed us good; 
and accept our united thanksgiving for the devising of him whose 
thought has given us the gathering of this day. Stir up everywhere 
the wills of thy faithful people, that they may plcnteously bring 
forth the fruit of good works, to the beautifying of this state, and 
for the welfare of the people, for the brightening of their lives and 
the lightening of their toil. 

And all praise shall be rendered mito thee, the Father of us all, 
in Jesus Christ thy Son. For the kingdom is thine, and thine is the 
power, and thine is the glory. And now in humble and devout com- 
memoration of the great gifts and the great work of the man whose 
name has brought us hither, and who now rests from his labors, we 
commit ourselves unto thy gracious care and protection and guidance 
for this day. The Lord bless us and keep us. The Lord make his 
face to shine upon us, and be gracious unto us. The Lord lift up 
his countenance upon us and give us i^eace, both now and evermore. 
Amen. 

Judge ISTesmitli was then introduced as friend and 
long-time companion of Daniel Webster. He was re- 
ceived with long-continued applause, and spoke as fol- 
lows : — 

PRESIDENT NESMITH'S ADDRESS. 

Fellow Citizens, — I thank a kind Providence Avho has permitted 
us to participate in the ceremonies of this interesting occasion. Such 
ability and strength as I have I tender to your service. Believing 
that I shall not be able to encounter the fatigue incident to my office 
for the whole day, I shall ask to be relieved at the proper hour. 

I bid a hearty and most cordial welcome to this great assemblage 
of people, gathered not only from the native and adopted states of 



26 STATUE OF DANIEL WEBSTER. 

Daniel Webster, but from all parts of our Union. My present exhor- 
tation to all here is, that in order to hear much and see more, jon 
must now exercise much patience, long-suffering, and brotherl}' 
kindness towards each other, and thiis be able to preserve good 
order. Our accommodations may not be all you desire, because of 
your great numbers. 

Permit me at the outset to say, that one of our first duties will be 
discharged when this elegant statue of Mr. Webster now standing 
before us shall be unveiled, and exposed to the public view. Nearly 
thirty-four years have elaj^sed since the death of Mr. Webster. 
Death has thinned the ranks of those who used to listen to his voice 
in the jiublic assemblies or counsels of our nation, or had opportu- 
nity to enjoy with him the friendly, social intei'course of private life. 
I first saw him in Hanover, in 1819, but first took him by the hand 
in 1S25, wlien introduced by his brother Ezekiel. It was soon after 
that my more intimate relations commenced. Still I am hapi:»y to 
be able to state that there are those present, and among them our 
orator, who have had the means and opportunity of knowing the 
character of Mr. AVebster, the early struggles of his life which he 
encountered and overcame, his steady but rapid progress to high 
eminence and honest fame. These men, we trust, will have the 
ojiportunity and the disi^osition to instruct us on this occasion. 

I indulge the belief with great confidence that we now have before 
us such a resemblance in bronze of the great original man when liv- 
ing, as may justly be pronounced more perfect in design, execution, 
and artistic skill than any other statue heretofore produced by that 
eminent artist, Thomas Ball, and seldom exceeded by any other 
artist. The i^edestal on which the statue stands lias been largely 
planned and finished under the critical eye of Mr. John A. Fox, of 
Boston. Much credit is due to his executive ability, correct taste, 
and sound judgment. 

The legislature of this state freely granted land sufficient for the 
location of the monument in this state-house pai'k, imposing uijon 
the governor and liis councilors the duty of designating the precise 
spot where it should he located. This duty has been discharged by 
the governor and council. 

Now I rejoice that the time has arrived when our worthy friend 
and your benefactor, Benjamin Pierce Cheney, of Boston, a native 
of New Hampshire, will unveil this beautiful statue, and expose it 
to the public view, and then in due form present it with its appen- 
dages to tlie state of New Hampshire. T rejoice tliat his life has 
been so prolonged as to enable him to perform this service so honor- 
able to him, so acceptable to this state, and that he has had the 



THE DEDICATION EXERCISES. 27 

opportunity and means to execute his purpose, long since entertained, 
to erect a monument here, destined to perpetuate the name and fame 
of Daniel Webster far down into the future ages. 

Monuments become valuable when they are well earned and well 
deserved, either by distinguished and meritorious services, or by the 
successful achievement of victory in some of the great struggles 
encountered in human life. Has Daniel ^yebster ever earned this 
monument? It is the written opinion of ex-President John Adams 
that Daniel Webster had earned a monument more enduring than 
brass by producing his celebrated oration delivered at Plymoutli, 
Mass., on the 20th of December, 1820. When Mv. Webster had 
presented a copy of that oration to Mr. Adams in December, 1821, 
Mr. Adams returned to him a very flattering and complimentary 
letter, in which he expressed his thanks for that great production, 
and in enthusiastic terms alleged that it ought to be read at the end 
of every year forever, and then in the triumphant language of Hor- 
ace he exclaims, '' Exegisti monumentum cmre pcrennhis,'''' "Thou 
hast erected a monument more durable than brass." The language 
of Chancellor Kent of New York was alike complimentary. (See 
Curtis's Biography, Vol. I., p. 194.) 

So when ancient Greece was at the zenith of her glory in arts and 
arms, and Phidias and Praxiteles and others were hewing out their 
monuments in honor of their own distinguished men, and when the 
eminent dramatist Euripides requested one for himself, the reply 
came, "O Euripides! Thou dost not need a monument, but the 
monument needs thy name." 

So in either case, we now require the monument, whether it be 
erected to commemorate the famous deeds of a great man, or 
whether such deeds are required to make the monument famous. 

The Statue was then unveiled by Miss Annie, daughter 
of Col. John H. George, and was greeted with cheers by 
the immense throng. It was then presented to the state 
by B. P. Cheney, Esq., who spoke as follows : — 

MK. CHENEY'S ADDRESS. 

Your Excellenct/, — I am happy at the fulfillment of an intention 
which I have long cherished, of presenting to my native state a 
statue of Daniel AYebster. I trust that it may be received by you, in 
behalf of the people whose political rights are intrusted to your care, 
as an appropriate tribute to the memory of a son of New Hampshire, 



28 STATUE OF DANIEL WEBSTER. 

who as a patriot was unexcelled, and as an orator and statesman 
was without a peer. 

I now deliver to your Excellency the conveyance of the statue to 
the state, executed by the trustees having the matter in charge. 

He then delivered the following deed to Gov. Currier: — 

THE DEED TO THE STATE. 

By virtue of a deed of trust, a copy of which is hereto annexed,* 
executed by and between Benjamin Pierce Cheney and the trustees 
therein named, dated February 13, 1885, the undersigned, as such 
trustees, hereby convey to the state of New Hampshire the bronze 
statue of Daniel Webster this day dedicated in the state-house 
grounds, in Concord, subject to all the provisions of said deed of 

trust. (Signed) GEORGE W. NESI\IITH, 

JOHN M. HILL, 
JOHN H. GEORGE. 

Witness: Benjamin Pierce Cheney. 

Dated Concord, N. H., June 17, 1886. 

In behalf of the state, Gov. Currier replied as follows : 

GOV. CURRIER'8 address OF ACCEPTANCE. 

Mr. President and Fellow Citizens, — On this anniversary of the 
first great battle of the American Revolution, we meet to dedicate 
this beautiful statue to the memory of New Hampshire's greatest 
and most distinguished son, the peerless orator, the unrivaled states- 
man, the great expounder of our national constitution. Nations 
have erected monuments of stone and of brass to represent the ma- 
terial forms of their gods and their heroes : tliey have dedicated 
statues to the memory of their statesmen and their patriots ; but such 
lifeless effigies can add little to the fame and renown of Daniel 
Webster. They may preserve to coming generations the outward 
lineaments which genius and intellect impressed upon his living 
countenance, but that greatness of soul, that divine energy within, 
which lives and thinks and acts, cannot be imparted to lifeless stone 
and bronze ; it can never perisli ; it lives on ; it will exist in the life 
of the future ; it will be enshrined in eloquence and song to inspire 
the great and the good in all lands and in all times. 

Mr. President and Cientlemen of the Trustees, as tlie official repre- 

* See page 9. 



THE DEDICATION EXEKCISES. 29 

sentative of ouv state I accept this memorial statue, representing the 
ontward form and features of one whom we have always been jirond 
to call our own, one whom our people have ever been delighted to 
honor, one whose eloquence and statesmanship have given fame and 
glory to our state. This wonderful creation of art now stands 
unveiled before us, so noble, so majestic, so lifelike, that these iron 
limbs almost seem to move, these brazen lips to utter forth such 
words of tire and patriotism as courts and senates have listened to 
with wonder and admiration. And now, Mr. President, in the name 
of all the people of New Hampsliire, I wish to thank the generous 
donor for this great and noble gift to our state, to our nation, and 
to the world. 

Honored and distinguished Sir, your own great success in life illus- 
trates the grand possibilities that lie open before the young men of 
our state and nation ; your generosity is already known to fame ; 
your great benefaction to our venerable institution of learning lias 
rendered your name blessed among all our people ; this renewed 
liberality will be received by them with a gratitude and thankfulness 
Avhich no words can express. We have accepted from your liands 
this heroic image of our great statesman, and here, in his own native 
state, and in yours, too, sir, beneath the shadow of our capitol, on a 
foundation of granite, have placed it as an enduring memorial of the 
man whose living form and features you and we wish to pei-petuate. 
On this monument, inscriV)ed in letters of bronze, your name, asso- 
ciated with the great name of Daniel Webster, will go down to 
posterity honored and revered. 

Mr. President, the great nations and emi^ires of antiquity have 
passed away ; their cities and temi^les have disajipeared from the 
earth and been forgotten ; and should the day ever come when these 
walls of our caj^itol shall fall asunder, when this granite foundation 
shall crumble into dust, and this brazen statue, w^orn away by the 
wasting elements, shall fall to the earth and disappear, we may hope 
and believe that the fame and renown of Daniel Webster will still 
be remembered and held sacred by the world. 

Before Governor Currier had concluded, the rain, 
which had been threatening, began to fall, and hundreds 
left the grounds to seek protection. JSTotwithstanding the 
rain. Dr. Bartlett was introduced, and delivered the ora- 
tion of the day, sheltered by an umbrella held by one of 
the special policemen. 



so STATUE OF DANIEL WEBSTER. 



OKATION OF SAMLEL COLC< )K1) HARTLETT, D. T>., LL. D. 

Mr. President and Fellow Citizens, — Daniel Webster comes home 
to-day to the heart of his native state. A loyal son of this com- 
monwealth, distinguished already by his noble benefaction to its 
chief literary institution, presents to Iiis fellow citizens this lasting 
and admiral:)le memorial of the most illustrious graduate of that 
college, and the greatest of the sons of Xew Hampshire. All honor 
to the man who, having by his own indefatigable toil and skill 
acquired the means, has also had the mind to appreciate and the 
heart to commemorate thus tlie mighty dead. The thanks of every 
native and every resident of the state are due to-day to Benjamin 
Pierce Cheney. 

And while we thank the giver, we are here to receive the e:ift. 
We have come, some indeed from neighboring commonwealths and 
<listant points, but chiefly from tlie state of Wel:)ster"s nativity, — 
from its legislative halls and offices of state, its literary institutions, 
its professional employments, its business affairs, the mill, the shop, 
the farm, and the home, from the banks of the Piscataqua, the Mer- 
rimack, and the Connecticut, the borders of its lakes, and the shad- 
ows of its great mountains, to do honor once more to an imperish- 
able memory. For though his death was lamented in whole volumes 
of eulogies fi'om tlie most eloquent divines and the ablest statesmen 
in all parts of the Union, though such men as Cass, and Seward, 
and Preston, and Everett, and Winthrop, and Evarts, and Choate, 
and Bayard have brought tlieir exhaustive tributes to liis greatness, 
we feel that there yet remains something for us to do and to say. 

For here we stand in the very center of his earlier sphere of life 
and labor, the home of his birth, his growtli, and his maturitv. On 
every side are the i^laces Avhicli will be forever associated with his 
name and history-. A few miles to the north of us still waves the 
■old elm that swung near his cradle, and still spai'kles the water of 
the well that quenched the thirst of his childhood's sports and of his 
manhood's 2:)ilgrimages. Not far from thence, northwesterly, rises 
the liigh hill, with faint traces of a church — " Searle's Hill "' or 
"Meeting-house Hill,'" — up which he was l)orne by his stalwart 
fatlusr in the first year of his life, for baptism. A few miles beyond, 
in Andover, is the place where, in the last year of his life, he wept 
and pra^^ed with old John Colb^ . In the opposite direction, down 
by the Merrimack, lies the "Elms Farm" of his boyhood's and his 
manhood's love : where at the ag-e of eig-ht he iirst read the constitu- 
tion, ])rint(!d on a cotton handkerchief ; where wei'eheld the counsel- 
ing's and the stru<2:«i;lin<>'s for liis and his brother's education : whence 



THE DEDICATION EXERCISES. 31 

he set forth for college with his books and clothing slung on horse- 
back; whither he returned to begin the study of law; where he 
composed, sitting on a rock, one of his first jniblic orations, and 
wrote, half a century later, the famous Hulsemann letter ; whitlier 
he sent his humorous epistles to John Taylor ; where, in his maturity 
and fame, he was wont to welcome his friends of both parties and 
of every degree ; and where he diffused around him till his death all 
the genial kindnesses of a neigliborly, a friendly, and a benevolen|; 
heart. Back agahi, among the hills of Salisbury, in sight of old 
Kearsarge, is the clun-ch in which, at the age of twenty-five, he 
stood alone before the congregation to profess his Christian faith, 
and where in later years I saw him sit a reverent worshiper, join- 
ing the sacred song with his burly voice, — hard l\v the spot where 
a vision of loveliness first dawned upon his sight, and just across 
the way from the house in which his lot was united with that of the 
Grace Fletcher, whose name, to the end of his days, he " could not 
write without tears." Xot quite half way from that place to this is 
the mansion of Dr. Wood, where he learned in part his first Latin 
and all his first Greek. Still nearer is the plain of Boscawen, on 
which he opened his ofiice for the practice of the law ; and in the 
tower of its academy swings the bell that still sounds forth the 
generosity of his i)rime. In the adjoining town of Hopkinton his 
father heard his first argument in court, and was satisfied. Two 
hours away, as we now travel it, to the northwest of us, is the col- 
lege that molded his young titanic powers, whose diploma, what- 
ever others may foolishly repeat, he did not tear in pieces, but 
gracefully accepted, — a college that throughout his life he loved 
and cherished. Xot quite so far away, southeasterly, is the fitting- 
school at which he felt the kind influence of the polished Buckmiu- 
ster. A little beyond is the home for years of his early manhood, 
where he matched his strength with that prince of lawyers, Jeremiah 
Mason, and from which he was first sent to the councils of the nation. 
The place of our assembling to-day once knew him well. During 
his early practice of the law, his face was a familiar siglit upon these 
streets, and the old mansion of the Kents received him long and 
often as a guest. He has listened to the debates in this legislative 
hall; and in the former North church, the old Phenix hall, and a 
great pavilion on School-street common — all passed away — his 
voice has been heard by the citizens of Concord. 

It was not until the early prime of his manliood, the mature age 
of thirty-four, that he left the scenes so incorporated with his earlier 
history and so embedded in his latest recollections, to become the 
master spirit of a sister state, the stalwart champion of New Eng- 



32 STATUE OF DANIEL M'EBSTER. 

land, a leader in the Republic, and a power in the world. He was 
in the opening fallness of his strength. He had laid down the ])rin- 
ciples of public policy that governed his life. He had measured his 
streno'th with th(^ keenest of legal intellects. He had been heard in 
the Supreme Court of the United States. He had made his mark in 
Congress by the breadth and clearness of his views, the mingled 
firmness and temperance of his positions, and the forensic power 
with which he maintained them. The great Chief-Justice Marshall 
had foretold that "he would become one of the first statesmen in 
America, and perhaps the very first." 

Trained thus in every motion and toughened in every fiber of his 
intellect, he stepped forth upon the great arena " like a strong man 
to run a race." He was made and molded for victory. His very 
Ijhysique was the organ and symbol of an intellectual athlete. What 
a statue he was in repose. In speech, what an incarnation of kindled 
thought and ponderous power. Though his townsman by lairth, I 
saw him but three times in my life, but the vision can never pass 
away : once on the liighway, as he rode home from the Dartmouth 
Commencement with his brother Ezekiel by his side, and they seemed 
" duofulmina belli " ; again in the little churcli from wliich his mem- 
bersliip was never removed, as I looked timidly from the pulpit \\\)0\\ 
his face in the pew, and he looked up so kindly and listened so attent- 
ively to the youthful preacher; and once more when on the slojie of 
Bunker Hill thirty thousand of us listened to his words, and he 
seemed like the finished granite shaft that rose above us all. Three 
times only, but a life-long memory. That powerful frame, clad, 
when he spoke, in continental colors, that massive head, those deep 
flashing eyes, that penetrating voice that could ring out like a trum- 
pet or sti-ike like a cannon ball, are never to 1)6 forgotten. Tn his 
young manhood he was to Judge Richard Fletcher " the most majes- 
tic form and the noblest countenance on which he had ever looked " ; 
and, after his death, to Theodore Parker, " the grandest figure in 
Christendom since Charlemagne." Thorwaldsen, the sculptor, 
thought liis Ijust in a studio was not that of a living man, but of an 
ancient Ju]jiter. Thomas Carlyle, that prince of carpers, saw him 
once at a breakfast, and wrote of him, " He is a magnificent speci- 
men. As a logic fencer, advocate, or parliamentary Hercules, one 
would inclines to Ijack him at first siglit against all the extant world. 
That tanned complexion, that amor^jhous, c-rag-like face, the dull 
black eyes under the precipice of brows, like dull anthracite fur- 
naces, Avaiting only to l)e Idoicii, the mastifl" mouth accurately 
elosed, — I liave not traced so much silent Herserker rage, tliat \ 
remember of, in any other man." 



THE DEDICATION EXERCISES. 33 

Corresponding to this noble eomijleteness of physical manhood 
was the rounded greatness of his intellect and character. It was a 
fullness that filled many spheres. Wherever he moved there was 
momentum in the motion ; wherever he stood, he stood intrenched 
and strong. Farming or fishing, in sport or in solDerness, writing 
social letters or state papers, arguing the law, questioning a witness, 
or addressing a jury, — in the senate, on the platform, in the home 
circle, in conflict, in friendship or in love, tliere was the same full- 
ness of outflow, and the same fullness of reseiwe. 

A generation has elaj^sed since his death. Political and personal 
animosities have passed to the tomb. The smoke and dust of con- 
flict have cleared away. As we now look back upon the scene of 
half a century ago, brilliant with great names at the bar, on the 
bench, in the cabinet and the forum, as we gaze on those strua'gles 
and often battles of the giants, there stands out on that arena no 
figure more colossal than Daniel Webster ; and as the very great- 
ness of his services would render it impossible adequately to porti'ay 
them on this occasion, so does their conspieuousness render it un- 
necessary. The place he holds in the annals of the first half of this 
century is no longer a question for argument ; it is a verdict of his- 
tory. It is therefore my function to-day not to make that argument, 
but to report that verdict. 

It was as a lawyer that he first rose raj^idly to eminence. His 
skill in extracting the truth from a witness was singular, and some- 
times, as with Bramble and Goodrich, almost magical. His power 
of grasping a case by its strong points was equaled onlj by his 
ability to array the law in their support, the clearness of his presen- 
tation to the court, and the impressiveness of his address to the jury. 
He seemed like some great commander, throwing out his scouts and 
skirmish lines, seizing the strongholds, training his great batteries, 
pushing forward the heavy battalions, and then hurling his cavalry 
upon the center of the foe. Many of his arguments, as in the case 
of Dartmouth College, of Gibbons vs. Ogden, and of the United 
States against McCulloch, will live on in the records of the courts ; 
others, as in the trial of the Knapps, and the testing of the Girard 
will, will live on in the hearts of the people. Matched in the courts 
against Mason, Dexter, Choate, Emmet, Wirt, Binney, Clay, Pink- 
ney, Livingston, it was among such antagonists that he won his 
laurels. Chief-Justice Marshall listened deferentially to his opin- 
ions, and sometimes incorporated them almost verbally in his deci- 
sions. It was Charles O'Conor who said: "At anytime within a 
quarter of a century preceding his departure from among us, had it 
been inquired at any place inhabited by civilized men, who was the 
3 



34 STATUE OF DANIEL WEBSTER, 

greatest lawyer in America, liis name wonkl have been the ready 
response." It was AVilliam H. Seward who declared in the senate 
of the United States : " Whatever else concerning him has been con- 
troverted by anybody, the iifty thousand law3'ers of the United States, 
interested to deny his pretensions, conceded to him an unapproach- 
able supremacy at the bar." Not so nuich the supremacy of techni- 
cal legal lore, — in wliieli, no doubt, others may have equaled or 
excelled him, — as in that mastery of the imderlying legal principles, 
which enabled iiim to find and to wield at will all the resources of 
the law that bore upon his point, and which made him more than a 
mere lawyer, — a pi'ofound jimst and a powerful advocate. For it 
is Rufus Choate who affirms : "I shall submit it to the judgment of 
the vmiversal American bar, if a carefully prejjared opinion of Mr. 
Webster on any question of law wliatever in the whole range of 
jurisprudence Avould not be accepted everywliere as of the most 
coBuuanding authority, and as the highest evidence of legal truth. 
I submit it to the same judgment if, for many years before his death, 
they would not rather have chosen to intrust the maintenance and 
enforcement of any important 2:)roposition of law whatsoever, before 
any legal tribunal of character whatever, to his Itest exertion of his 
faculties, than to any other ability which the whole wealth of the 
profession could supph'." And the same acute observer and mas- 
terly critic said of him : "He spoke with consummate ability to the 
bench, and yet exactly as, according to every canon of taste and 
ethics, the bench ought to be addressed." It was William ]\I. Evarts 
who, with his eye upon the "history of the countr}^" said of him: 
"I am quite sure that there is not, in the general judgment of the 
profession, nor in the conforming opinion of his countrymen, any 
lawyer that in the magnitude of his causes, in the greatness of their 
public character, in the immensity of their inlUience upon the for- 
tunes of the country, or in the authority Avliich his manner of forensic 
eloquence jjroduced in courts and over courts, can be placed in the 
same rank with ]Mr. Wel)ster." 

Such testimonies, from such sources, with such sweep of inclusion, 
leave nothing to add and nothing to subtract. It is light reflected 
from the great lights of the law upon the chief luminary of their 
jirofession. Another able counselor, accustomed to practice by 
his side, Charles G. Loring, bore this additional testimony: "He 
could not argue a bad cause comi)aratively well." If this be true, 
it is the highest testimony to his lucid mind and honest purpose, that 
could not and would not ])ut light for darkness and darkness for 
light, it was indeed the high, f)pen, and manly ground taken by Mr. 
"Webster Avhich, from the outset, impressed the ablest of his antago- 



THE DEDICATION EXERCISES. 35 

nists and associates. Calhoun pronounced liini the fairest man he 
ever met to state the position of liis opponents ; and so high an 
authorit}' as Chief-Justice Joel Parker has recorded to his honor as a 
lawyer: "He met the case fairly; he resorted to no tricks to make 
the worse appear the better reason." It was his crowning merit, too, 
that while he argued cases, he also settled principles. 

Side by side with his growing legal reinitation blossomed out his 
power and fame as an orator. From the date of his Tlymouth dis- 
course in 1820, his rank Avas settled. It called forth the calm but 
exhaustive admiration of such a man as Chancellor Kent for "its 
reflections, its sentiments, its morals, its patriotism, its eloquence, 
its imagination, and its style." It evoked the enthusiastic outburst 
of stout old John Adams, that "five hundred years hence it will be 
read with as nuicli admiration as it was heard ; " and for a generation 
it was declaimed in almost every public school in the land. After 
the lapse of a quarter of a century from his death, no less an orator 
than Winthrop affirmed that " certainly from the date of that dis- 
course he stood second as an orator to no one who spoke the English 
language." Indeed, the chief re viler over his new-made grave 
could say: " Since the great Athenians, Demosthenes and Pericles, 
who ever thundered out such spoken eloquence as his ? " His first 
Bunker Plill oration, his eulogy on Adams and Jefterson, his crush- 
ing replj^ to Hayne, his jury argument on the murder of Joseph 
White, stand out with equal prominence as monuments of power, 
and a great multitude of other remarkable speeches gather round 
them, covering almost every possible variety and combination of 
conditions. For more than a generation his voice was heard at pub- 
lic ceremonials, conventions, and mass meetings, in the Senate, at 
the bar, at dinners and receptions, in political excitements, on his 
journeyings, before select audiences, to tlie inner circles of friends 
and neighbors. And if it Ijc true that a great occasion was re^iuired 
to rouse him to the fullest exertion of his powers, it is also true that 
he never fell below, wandered from, nor failed to dignify, the occa- 
sion. Whether he addressed the ladies of Richmond, the young men 
of Albany, the sons of New Hampshire in Boston, the Dartmouth 
alumni in AVasliington, the brokers in Wall street, his Democratic 
opponents at liis home in Franklin, the court, the Senate, or tlie jury, 
spoke at a Pilgrim festival, a cattle fair, the opening of a railway, 
or the laying of a corner-stone, gave an historical address, a eulogy 
on Mason, Story, or Calhoun, it was alike pertinent, manly, and 
true. 

The singular breadth and fertility of his miml appeared in the 
unfailing variety of his utterances. He never repeated himself. I 



36 STATUE OF DANIEL WEBSTER. 

remember how in the political struggle of 1844:, when Webster, 
Choate, Ashmun, and others were addressing the people far and near 
on the issues of the pending election, ]Mr. Webster's many speeches 
were alone reported in full, and the reason rendered me at the time 
was, because they alone could bear it. Mv. Everett has in like man- 
ner called attention to the series of sjDeeches made by him on a trip 
over the Erie Railway. Not counting mere snatches of remarks here 
and there, eleven extenijioraneous si^eeehes were made on that jour- 
ney, as he was called from the cars to the platfoinu. "Every one of 
them," said Mr. Everett after a careful jierusal, "was singularly 
adapted to the place and occasion. Ever}- one of those eleven 
speeches would have added greatly to the reputation of any other 
man in the United States ; made as they were without preparation, 
they im2:)ressed me more than anything else with his extraordinary 
capacity." Indeed, when we pass in review all the qualities of his 
oratory, — his fullness, dei^th, and clearness, his readiness and adap- 
tation, his iron logic and his splendid rhetoric, his lofty imagination, 
his converging thought and his plastic style, his grand presence and 
magnetic impression, when we consider the wide range of his efforts, 
and the effects, immediate and lasting, which he produced, — I am 
almost ready to ask whether, when estimated in the grand total, the 
annals of oratory certainly furnish a greater name than Webster. 

Of later but not less solid growth, was Mr. Webstei"\s fame as a 
statesman and diplomatist. His views of national policy were early 
matured, and with the minor modifications to which a wise and 
expanding mind must ever hold itself open, he maintained them 
consistently to the end. It was inevitable that he should stand allied 
to one of the two great political organizations, which, from the 
nature of government and the two broad divergent theories as to its 
fimction, whether fostering or merely permissive, will always exist 
in a republic. It would be but fair to judge him from that stand- 
point in public affairs which he deliberately chose. But happily the 
time has come when we can rise to a plane above the line of party 
divisions, and test him by his adhesion to the constitution, the laws, 
and entire welfare of his countr}-, and to the sound and righteous 
principles on which that government was founded. He belie^^ed, as 
we all believe, that whatever may have been its theoretical or prac- 
tical human defects, the world has seen no such government as ours, 
and were it once broken in pieces, no such government would take 
its place, and that witli its downfall the great hopes of the world 
would be clouded over. To the watchful guardianship of the vast 
and pi'ecious interests thus garnered up in this federal government, 
he gave,, in the house, the senate, and the cabinet, thirty-three years- 



THE DEDICATION EXERCISES. 37 

of assiduous, self-sacrificing toil, and a patriotism hampered by no 
sectional or party ties, but as broad as the nation's boundaries and 
as liio-h as her destinies. 

Of the vast and complex varietj' of measures which during that 
protracted period felt his hand, enlisted his pen, and eA'oked his 
voice, I cannot even speak by enumeration. JNIr. Choate, after some 
pages of outline, breaks ott' by declaring that it "demands a vol- 
ume." They include the functions of the government itself, from 
center to circumference, its boundaries and its territory, its resources, 
finances, commerce, improvements, its internal and foreign relations, 
in peace and war, on the land and on the sea. Li all these multifa- 
rious and complicated aft'airs he stood forth for a generation a lead- 
ing spirit, a guiding and often a controlling power, shaping the 
destiny of the wiiole country. During that long period, no measure 
that concerned the honor, integrity, or prosperity of the nation, 
escaped his vigilance or his iufiuence. Some of those services were 
conspicuous enough to arrest the eyes of the nation and the world. 
When in his reply to Hayne he strangled the doctrine of nullifica- 
tion, it is the testimony of the southern Bayard and the northern 
Winthrop, that he deferred the bloody conflict thirty years. And 
when the conflict came, the long echoes of that speecli were the 
reverberating call that summoned and cheered the fi'iends of the 
Union to the rescue ; its solid principles, the impregnable rock on 
which a million soldiers stood, and fought, and won. In the cele- 
brated Washington treaty, by his wisdom, firmness, legal knowledge, 
reasoning jiower, diplomatic tact and personal ascendency, he calmed 
the excited passions of the two foremost nations, and averted the 
imminent danger of a fratricidal and ruinous war. He did it only 
by remaining in the cabinet of President Tyler for the good of his 
country, but against the warnings of political friends. No other 
man in America could have wafted that momentous treaty over all 
the rocks and shoals and breakers at home and abroad ; and pos- 
terity, I think, has already accorded him its unanimous and admiring- 
vote. So sometimes did the judgment of contemporaries. Thus 
when in that bold and masterly dispatch to Iliilsemann he courte- 
ously rebuked the insolence of the Austrian charge and left not a 
shred of his argument, when he demolished the claim of the Austrian 
cabinet to treat the American envoy as a spy, and met their menace 
with the information that such a course would have roused, if need 
be, the whole military and naval force of a republic "whose power," 
said he, "is spread over a region, one of the richest and most fertile 
on the globe, and of an extent in comparison with which the posses- 
sions of the House of Hapsburg are but as a patch on the surface of 



38 STATUE OF DANIEL WEBSTER. 

the earth,"' the heart of the whole American people beat with him in 
sympathetic admiration. 

Not the least sliiniug aspect of his statesmanship and diplomacy 
was the readiness with which, in the discliarge of duty, he overleaped 
party lines, sustained what he deemed the right measures of political 
opponents, aided in tlie election of his rivals and inferiors, and fol- 
lowed what he avowed to be his duty, though it cost liim hosts of 
life-lono- friends. "It was not in his nature," well says Mr. Blaine, 
"to be a partisan chief." And so in a critical time of Jackson's 
administration he came to liis rescue on the "force bill," and " Old 
Hickory" in person expressed his gratitude. Vice-President John- 
son had to tliank him for " a magnanimity and courtesy above the 
times." Though urged to the contrary, he took the stump for his 
constant competitor. Clay, — a favor, alas, ill requited by Mr. Clay 
at the close of his life. He turned the tide of northern votes in be- 
half of General Taylor, though at first the nomination had seemed to 
him " not fit to be made." To one candidate of his party he refused 
his support, because, while "himself well enough" and "of good 
principles," he was sure to be " the tool " of other men ; and he pre- 
dicted the signal defeat which awaited the candidate. How gener- 
ously he could speak of the high qualities of Clay, Calhoun, and 
Pierce, and how promptly he could clasp hands once more with Ben- 
ton after years of estrangement. How completely his letter of 
apology won the heart of Senator Dickinson, who "perused and 
reperused the beautiful note." How frankly he met the friendly 
overtures of his life-long, keen antagonist, our Governor Hill, and 
welcomed him at his house in Franklin . And though there were some 
sharp passages at arms during his long career, how magnanimously 
was every stinging word struck out from his published works. 

No more conspicuous instance could be furnished of freedom from 
all trammels but his own sense of duty, than his noted speech on the 
7th of ]March, 1850, on the Compromise. It was deliberately done. 
Weeks beforehand, in the evening interview sought by j\Ir. Clay, he 
had declared his purpose to take his stand, "no matter what might 
befall himself at the North." He took it. It cost him more than any 
other act of his life, — estrangement of friends, loss of popularity, 
bitter taunts and re\ilings, the refusal once of old Faneuil Hall, and 
unfavorable judgments to the i^resent day. Occurring at the close 
of a long and honored life, the scene is pathetic and almost tragic. 
Now that tlie excitements are gone and the issues are dead, it is time 
to appeal to the sober second thought of posterity. Whether judged 
by his own record and his avowed standard of duty, or by tlie stand- 
ard freely conceded by the nation to other illustrious men, his great 



THE DEDICATION EXERCISES. 39 

memory should now be cleared from that odium. We can now see 
that his whole past career l^rouu-ht him where he stood that day. 
With every utterance of his puljlic life he was committed to the pres- 
ervation of the constitution and the Union ; and on that day he pro- 
claimed, "I speak to-day for the preservation of the Union." He 
had always held slavery to be a " oreat moral, social, and political 
evil ; ■■ he deliberately reiterated the opinion on that seventh of 
March. He had argued and voted steadily against the extension of 
slavery, and he most emphatically declared on that day, " Wherever 
there is a foot of land to be prevented from becoming slave territory, 
I am ready to assert the principle of the exclusion of slavery. I 
have been pledged to it again and again, and I will redeem those 
pledges." He declared that in those sections where slavery existed 
under the solemn pledges of the constitution, those pledges, once 
made, could not be broken. So he had always declared, and so had 
the whole nation. He confessed himself unable — and who was not? 
— to propose measures for the extinction of slavery, but willing to 
appropi-iate two hundred millions of the public money to colonize 
colored people who were or should be made free. No human eye 
could then discern a possible remedy for the central evil, except in 
the quiet penetration of the Gospel, which, as Mr. Webster then said, 
" went to the first fountain of all the social and political relations of 
the human race." For though the remedy did suddenly appear in 
the form of civil convulsion, that convulsion came, not by the wis- 
dom of the wise, but by the fury of the madman and folly of the 
fool ; the cost of one man's life for every four men's freedom was a 
price that neither God nor man could justify. That the convulsion 
did not become a general massacre and extermination at the South, 
was due to the wisdom of the negro and the ^\■isdom of God. 

Did Mr. Webster on that day maintain the duty of rendition of 
fugitive slaves ? So he had ahvays done ; for so it was written in 
the constitution, and he was bound to do it, as he wrote to the citi- 
zens of Newburyport, "by his oath of oflice." Nay, he boldly said 
before the senate and before the world, " I put it to all the sober and 
sound minds of the North, as a question of morals and a question of 
conscience." Secession, revolution, was the only escape, and that 
was a bottomless pit into which neither he nor we were prepared to 
leap. Was he willing to forego extending the Wilmot Proviso to 
the new territories of California and New Mexico ? It was, he said, 
because nature had rendered it needless, and he would not add a 
useless irritant to the heated passions of the South. History vindi- 
cated his judgment. Slavery gained no firm foothold in that terri- 
tory. And still more remarkable was his vindication when, eleven 



40 STATUE OF DANIEL AVEBSTER. 

years later, the very men who reproached him for this act, the radi- 
cal men of Congress, — Sumner, Wade, Seward, Chandler, Lovejoy, 
Stevens, the Washburns, — did the very same thing for the same 
considerations ; they consented to organize the territories of Colo- 
rado, Dakota, and Nevada without a word on the Wilmot Proviso, 
and ^\athout a woi'd of explanation. " It is seldom," says Mr. Blaine, 
" that history so exactly repeats itself ; in both cases the acts were 
altogether honorable, the motives altogether patriotic." "But," Mr. 
Blaine j)ointedly adds, "these Republicans should at least have 
offered and recorded their apology for their animadversions upon 
Mr. Webster." He builded better than his censors knew, but he 
builded as he knew. Those eleven years that he gained to the Union 
Avere of inestimable value for the tinal conflict. Did he speak disap- 
provingly of the doings of Abolition societies, while conceding to 
"thousands of their members " the praise of being " honest and good 
men," and " not imputing gross motives to their leaders"? There 
lay before his mind the resolutions adopted in Ohio, and reaflirmed 
in Faneuil Hall, advocating a " dissolution of the Union," the resolv- 
ers avowins: themselves " enemies of the Union, the constitution, and 
the srovernment of the United States." Did not such utterances 
deserve rebuke ? But Mr. Webster also rebuked the violent utter- 
ances of southern men, and even arraigned a senator then upon the 
floor, for words of " oflense " and " injustice " to the North. 

Many Avere disappointed, and I was among them, that his words 
were not more severe, — denunciatory, — toward the South and its 
principles. But we can now see that this would have been to defeat 
his whole aim in speaking, and to precipitate the catastrophe which 
he strove to avert. He then clearly knew, what the North did not 
know, the imminent danger of secession; and "peaceable seces- 
sion," said he, with proi)hetic solemnity, "is an utter impossibility." 
"Sir," said he on that day, " I see as plainly as I see the sun in the 
heavens, what disruption must produce. I see it must produce war, 
and such Avar as I Avill not describe." How dreadfully Avas his 
prophecy fulfllled, — by a Avreck of life and liealth and morals, of 
family and social happiness, of individual and national Avealth, on a 
more terrific scale than the Avorld had seen since the desolations of 
the first Napoleon. To avert that aAvful calamity he stood forth on 
that day; and he may righteously demand to be judged l:>y his own 
life and life-long principles, by his keen foresight and lofty purpose. 

See, too, how diflerent has been the fate of Webster and of Lin- 
coln. Till a dozen years after Mr. Webster's death, and till a\ ithin 
three years of his OAvn death, Mv. Lincoln occupied precisely Web- 
ster's jwsition, only (!A'(>n more pronounced. He liad oven acted as 



THE DEDICATION EXERCISES. 41 

attorney for the reclamation of five slaves escaped from Kentucky. 
Only three years before Mr. Webster's speech, Lincoln had intro- 
duced into Congress a fug-itive-slave law for the District of Columbia. 
Twelve years after that seventh of March he had published to the 
world this well-known statement: "I Mould save the Union. I 
would save it in tiie shortest way under the constitution . . . the 
Union as it was. My paramount olyect is to save the Union, and not 
either to sa^c or destro}- slavery. If I could save the Union without 
freeing any slave, I would do it. If I could do it by freeing all the 
slaves, I would do it. If I could do it b}' freeing some and leaving 
others alone, I would also do that." It was only after the hardest 
education, and when compelled by the necessities of war, that he 
took his final stand. But while Lincoln is justly canonized, Webster 
has been as unjustly anathematized. Let the last cloud pass away 
fi'om over the fame of a majestic character. Let us see him as he 
was, bound by all his history, his jirinciples, and his proiDhecies, and 
able to say as did Luther: "Here I stand; I cannot do otherwise." 
And let us not fail to see how, with his inborn hatred of slavery^ 
itself, when once the T)onds of the constitution were finall}" broken 
by the emergencies of war, he would have said, in more (•ommand- 
ing tones than he said of the slave-trade thirty years before, "It is 
not fit that the land Ijear the shame longer," and with a zeal like that 
M'ith ^^'hieh his honored father fought for lil)erty at Bunker Hill and 
Bennington, he would have cheei'ed on every stroke for universal 
freedom against the ram^jant slave i^ower, from Bull Run to Appo- 
mattox. 

Such, imperfectly sketched, was Webster, the jurist and advocate, 
the orator, the statesman and dijjlomatist. But more than all and 
the basis of all, was the grandeur and fullness of the man, in his 
intellect, his sj-mj^athies, his afl^ections. He had faults, and they 
have been exaggerated. I am here neither to arraign nor defend 
them. His make was large. Though not technically a scholar, he 
was much more in his master}' of the highest results of scholarship, 
and in his broad i-ange of knowledge and thought. In his speeches, 
liis papei's, his letters, to whomsoever and for whatsoever, fi'om the 
great themes of state do^^n to the details of farm life, there is the 
same singular fertility of matter, strength, and brightness. His pri- 
vate conversation and social life were equall}?- exuberant of wisdom, 
reminiscence, anecdote, and humor. No man met liim casually or 
permanentlj' but felt his power. He could not mo^e unknown. 

Mr. Webster's sympathies were as broad as his intellect. Beneath 
a dignified and often cold exterior he had a great warm heart. He 
oould be on friendly terms with political opponents. He seemed to 



42 STATUE OF DANIEL WEBSTER. 

" love all things, both oreat and small." He was fond of nature, of 
outdoor recreations, and of the whole animal world. The great 
Secretaiy of State would In'ing the eggs from liis barn in his wife's 
work-basket. He loved to feed his tine cattle with his own liand,. 
and in the last few days of his life he gathered them to his door to 
look once more on their friendly faces. Quail, rabbit, and squirrel 
were safe on liis lands. He would gaze on tlic sun rising over the 
sea; he shouted and sung with the exhilaration. "I knoAV the 
morning," said he, "I am ac(|uainted Avith it, and 1 love it. I love 
it, fresli and sweet as it is, — a dailj^ ucav creation, breaking forth 
and calling all that liaA^e life and In-eatli and being to new adoration, 
new enjoyments, and new gratitude." He often expressed his de- 
light in the scenery of his native state, — "its hills and A'ales," its 
"beautiful elms and maples," its "little trickling brooks," heard 
"in the still night"; the "most l)eautiful spectacle of the autumn 
forests ; " "the Ioav and deep mnrnnu'ing of those forests, the fogs and 
mists rising and spreading, and clasping the In'casts of the moun- 
tains Avhose heads Avere still liigh and bright in tlic skies ; " its 
"skies all-healthful, and its mountains surjiassingly grand and suli- 
lime." HoAV fondly he appreciated the attractions of Marshtield, 
Avhile he yet could write from Elms Farm, the home of his childhood, 
"After all, this is the SAveetest place in the Avorld." For, after 
describing all its surroundings, Axlien he looked out of the east Avin- 
doAvs over the rich plains of the Merrimack, — "At the east end of 
it," said he, "T see plain, marble gravestones designating the places 
where rejoose my father, my mother, my brother Joseph, and ni}- 
sistei's. Dear, dear kindred blood, how I love yon all." His attach- 
ments were strong and lasting. He affectionately rcnu'mbcrcd his 
college classmates and the schoolmasters of his Ijovhood. Xot a 
fcAV of his humbler earh' associates Avei-e objects of his benefactions. 
He purchased and freed the slaves ]Monica and Henry. His old 
neighbors loved and clung to him, and lie clung to them ; and there 
are fcAV more toncliing letters than his reply to his Xcav Hampshire 
neiglibors in 1,S5(), in Avhich he tells them, "I could pour out my 
heart in tenderness of feeling for tlie aifectionafe letter Avhicli comes 
from you. It comes from home ; it comes from tliose Avhom 1 have 
knoAvn, or avIio have; known me from my birth. It is like the love 
of a family circle; its intluences fall on a heart like the dew of 
Harmon." Friends of his maturer years were bound to liini by the 
strono-est of ties, and Webster and Choate Avere like David and Jona- 
than. IIoAV intense Avere his family affections. Tli(> fond memory 
of father and mother followed liim to the last. Tlie premalui'e (h'atii 
of his brother in the court house here left a Avouiid in his lieart, tliirt\- 



THE DEDICATION EXERCISES. 43 

years later still "fresh and bleeding."' And how crushing was the 
grief as wife and children, one by one, were taken from his sight. 

I should do Mr. Webster's greatness the greatest injustice, did I 
close this discourse without an acknowledgment of his noble and un- 
faltering stand for principle, morality, and Christianity. Where in 
all his recorded utterances is there a sentence or a word that on this 
account we could wish erased ? What prominent politician or states- 
man, from Washington to the present day, has uttered himself so 
openly and so powerfully in the maintenance of true religion ? His 
argument on the Girard will was circulated by the clergy. He read 
and rcAerenccd the Bible, and knew large portions of it by heart. 
He honored the sacred day, closing his gates to visitors, and being- 
found in the house of worship. He began his family life at Ports- 
mouth with family prayers conducted 1)y himself, and after interrup- 
tions resumed the practice at jNIarshlield. Through life he was wont 
to ask a blessing at his table. "Religion," said he to the supreme 
court of Massachusetts in his eulogy on Mason, " religion is a neces- 
sary and indispensal)le element in any great human character. 
There is no living without it. Religion is the tie that connects man 
with his Maker and holds him to his throne. If that tie be sundered, 
all broken, he floats away, a worthless atom in the universe, its 
13roper attractions all gone, its destiny thwarted, and its whole future 
nothing but darkness, desolation, and death." In answer to the 
blunt question of John Colby, "Are you a Christian?" he replied: 
"I hope that I am a Christian; I profess to be a Christian. But 
while I say that, I wish to add, — and I say it with shame and con- 
fusion of face, — that I am not such a Christian as [ wish to be." 
Almost the last Avords of the last night of his life were words of 
prayer. His tomb bears the inscription, prepared by himself, begin- 
ning: "Lord, I believe, help thou mine unbelief." 

This was the man whom we commemorate to-day. The living- 
recollection of his majestic presence will soon have passed away, 
but so long as English literature shall last, the work that he did will 
stand embalmed in the works that he left. Time is vindicating his 
contemporary fame. And when the distant historian shall pass in 
review the illustrious men of the nation between Washington and 
Lincoln, what figure among them all will loom up so clear and gi-and 
upon the vision of posterity ? He was one whom the presidency of 
these United States could hardly have honored, but who could have 
honored the presidency. It is as Avell that he did not. No title is so 
great as the name Daniel Weisstek. 

Fellow citizens, Mr. Webster was pre-eminently a New Hamp- 
shire man. Born upon its soil, and for the first four and thirty years 



44 STATUE OF DANIEL WEBSTER. 

a constant resident of its territory, he was molded bj^ its influ- 
ences ; and even its i^hysical features seemed stamped upon his soul. 
The dark, unbroken sweep of its primeval forests well symbolized 
the vast resources of his capacious intellect ; its marvelously varied 
surface of grove and meadow, hill and dale, was a fit emblem of the 
many-sidedness of his ways ; its June verdure is not brighter than 
the freshness of his whole nature to the last ; its bubbling springs 
and trickling rills are not more playful tlian the genial humor of his 
l^rivate life, nor its still lakes more profound than the depth of his 
aifections ; its granite clifts reappear in the massive solidity of his 
character ; its mountain heights in the towering ascendency of his 
powers ; while its rushing rivers, swollen by the melting snows of 
sirring, alone can rejji'esent the tide of his eloquence. 

" The boundless prairies learned his name. 
His words the mountain echoes knew ; 
The northern breezes swept his fame 
From icy lake to warm l^ayou. 

In toil he lived ; in peace he died ; 

When life's full cycle was complete. 
Put off liis roljes of })ower and pride, 

And laid them at his Master's feet. 

His rest is by tlie storm-swept waves 

Whom life's wild tempests roughly tried, 

Whose heart was like the streaming caves 
Of ocean throbbing at his side." 

Here stands his statue. Here let it stand through the generations 
to come, in this center and heart of the commonwealth, b}^ the Main 
street of her capital and the door of Iier state house. The quiet 
flow of daily life, the bustle of business, and the public parade shall 
pass before him in silent review. The stranger shall pause and gaze 
on that imperial brow. Children shall liere ask and be told his name 
and fame. The men of New Hampshire shall i)oint with pride to 
the greatest of their fellow citizens. Legislators and officers of 
state, as they pass to their work, shall be greeted by the sight of one 
who wove so strong the bonds of the Union and the constitution, 
and guarded so well the priceless blessings they enfold. And as 
long as her fountains shall gush, her lakes shall gleam, her rivers 
run, and her mountains rise, sliall the memoiy of Wcljster be fresh 
in his native state. 



THE DEDICATION EXERCISES. 45 

SPEECH OF GOVEKNOR ROBINSON, OF MASSACHUSETTS. 

Laciie. and Gentlemen, - Massachusetts delights to be present here 
with you to-day aud to participate in these most interesting and im- 
pressive ceremonies. Happily, no human eye can discern a line tha 
Larks a separation between the two states whose people to-day ]oin 
in ioyful recognition of the consummate ability, marvelous achieve- 
nient! and unquestioning loyalty in the man who stood in the fore- 
most rank of the greatest of lawyers, orators, and statesmen the 
world ever saw. With one common spirit Massachusetts and New 
Hampshire unite to hail with exultant pride and unquestioning 
^Z^iasm the accomplishment of a work that shall perpetuate in 
e dm-ino- bronze the name, and the form, and the fame o Daniel 
Web ter. To the place of his nativity and to the home of his later 
yelis his career of honor and power is a rich heritage and brmgs 
g" id inspiration for the highest and greatest that human mind can 
master But two states could not contine the greatness of his powei 
whJn in his activity and vigor of life, and no more now can the 
Tame two states hold in exclusive title his distinctive renown 
wi"i<^hTin his public life and work. Co-extensive with the grand 
Union which was the fond ideal of his dearest hopes, enduring as 
Srna onality which inspired him to his noblest efforts, his name 
Ind fame are in the keeping of all the people of the land and com- 
mand the admiration of the civilized world. Here lie raised 1 
Tyes ao-ain to his native hills; here he breathed anew the fresh an 
ofheaven amid scenes endeared to him by the association of his 
™ days and hallowed by the tender affections of honie and 
kindled here he turned in contemplation of the humble begmnmg 
t s liustrious, forceful life ; here he renewed in memory the con- 
mcrtllatwere crowned with his eavUev triumphs and e^^^^^^^^^^ 
him that intellectual strength and clearness that made lum the lue 
sistible champion in the arena of debate. 

Emiiintly fitting it is that in this memorable place, in the capital 
eitv ;; his native state, here before the halls of a-enibly^^^^^^^^^^^ 
people meet to enact their will into just and -^^^^^.^ ^ ^^^J^VaU 
velop and perpetuate their liberties, this ^^^"-"^ .^'^^^^^Z;^"^ .'^Vr, 
comL time to tell of his devotion to the constitution of the fatheis. 
^TeCeler in all the years to come, the youth oi^^^^^ 
in the centuries of the future, will pause here -.^^f;^ '^ "^J^^^ 
with uncovered heads, will pay the abundant ^-bute of i e Pea to - 
grand hero in life whose heart thrilled with pride w en l- j-^-^^^ 
° I was born an American, I live an American, and I shall die an 



American." 



46 STATUE OF DANIEL WEBSTER. 

But a far gTander monument, not reared witli human hands, stands 
to testify of his i)ublie work and services. It rests on every inch of 
soil in this great republic of the United States of America. It is 
the shrine of union and libertj' consecrated by the sacrifices of the 
fathers, sustained and defended by his abililies and power, and sanc- 
tified anew in the heroism and blood of the sons who periled all, 
that liberty should survive and the Union endure. When the great 
life was ebbing out, when death entered the shades at IVIarshfield, 
the glazing eye turned upon states discordant but not then bellig- 
erent. It looked upon a land not then drenched with fraternal 
blood, Init upon a land over which the subdued and baffled spirit 
of nullification was threatening to reappear in the accursed demon 
form of secession and disunion. The great spirit passed on forever 
to the vale Ijeyond ; and the mortal eye closed at last upon earthly 
scenes. The hush of death was followed Ijy the clangor of battle. 
War came,— long, terrible, costly, and bloody ; but the bow of peace 
appeared not again resplendent in the heavens until the sovereignty 
of the national government was everywhere acknowledged, and 
liberty and union became in very fact one and inseparable in 
America forever. 



SPEECH OF GOVEUXOi; HILL, UF XEW YUUK. 

Afr. Chairman, and Your ExceUcuci/ the Governor, — Most exact- 
ing oflicial engagements during the past thirty days have occupied 
my entire time. I have had no opportunity, except a few moments 
which I took on my way hither, to think of ^\hat I should say at this 
time. 

It is needless for me to tell you that 1 am pleased to be pres- 
ent on this interesting occasion. I have come from the capital of 
the Empire State to testify bj- my presence, rather than Ijy any 
word that I may express, the interest which the people of my state 
feel in the name and fame of Daniel Webster. Though born 
upon the soil of your state he did not belong to you alone. Your 
sister states join with his native state in claiming some share of the 
honor and glory which his achievements and services reflected upon 
the whole country. Ilis fame is the renown of America. Ilis life 
iind character add luster to the free institutions of our land. It may 
be safely asserted that among all the great men who have been 
developed imder our democratic form of government, he was one of 
the greatest, if not the greatest. No student can i)ernse his works 
without being impressed with the superiority of his eminent ability. 
Endowed ))y nature with extraordinary powers, uncommonly gifted, 



THE DEDICATION EXERCISES. 47 

lie was a bovn leader among men. Whether as a statesman, orator, 
or jurist, he had no rivals worthy of the name. Always a profound 
thinker, lie exhausted every subject he discussed, and this is the dis- 
tino-uishing feature of all his productions and eftbrts. No subject 
was ever so deep that lie did not fathom it ; no litigation so intricate 
that he did not comprehend it; no just cause so weak that did not 
have in him a powerful champion and friend. No pulilic man in all 
our history lias succeeded better in rendering memorable the great 
speeches of his life, and impressing their importance and splendor 
upon his countrymen. Wliat schoolboy in this broad land who has 
not declaimed to applauding audiences one of the immortal orations 
of Daniel Webster ? Who is so ignorant or obscure in this great 
country of ours wlio does not know the author of the ever living 
words,' "Liberty and union, now and forever, one and inseparable"? 
Mr. Webster was unquestionably the great popular orator of his 
time. None could surpass him upon tlie stump and before the peo- 
lile. About the year 1850, I believe it was, he made a tour through 
the principal cities of New York, and addressed the multitudes who 
flocked from all the surrounding country. From that day down to 
the present time there is pointed out to the stranger in those cities 
the spot where he delivered his speeches, the occasion being regarded 
as the great event of the time, and the particular places where he 
stood a matter of peculiar interest. Upon that balcony, or in this 
park, or in such a liall, or in yonder church, is the place where Dan- 
iel Webster spoke in 18.50, is the information which is sounded in 
your ears by the old residents of those cities who delight to recall 
the important circumstance. 

It was in defense of our form of government, of the constitution, 
and the Union, that ]Mr. Webster achieved his greatest triumphs as a 
statesman and orator. There have Ijeen great orators in the world's 
history, but I venture the assertion that none have surpassed his 
wonderful achievements. They gave him imperisliable and ever- 
lasting fame. 

It Avas not left for us alone, however, to fully appreciate his patri- 
otic services in behalf of our imperiled constitution. Our fathers 
before us on every proper occasion testified their admiration for his 
heroic and brilliant efforts. There Avas a public dinner given to Mr. 
Webster at Albany, N. Y., on May 28, 1851, by the citizens of that 
hospitable city, which Avas presided over by a distinguished citizen 
of my state, Hon. John C. Spencer, Avho in proposing a toast and 
in speaking of Mr. Webster's defense of the constitution appropri- 
ately said : " IIow poor and insignificant are all our eftbrts to express 
our appreciation of such a character and of such services. They 



48 STATUE OF DANIEL WEBSTER. 

have sunk deep into our hearts ; they will sink deeper into the hearts 
of unborn millions who are to people this vast continent ; and when 
he and Ave sleep with our fathers, his name will reverberate from 
the Atlantic to the Pacific as the defender of the constitution of his 
country." He then proposed the following beautiful sentiment: 
" The constitution of the United States and Daniel Webster, insepar- 
able noAV, and inseparable in the records of time and eternity." 
Mr. Webster replied to this compliment in his usual eloquent man- 
ner, and in concluding his speech proposed in return the follo-\\iug 
courteous and appropriate sentiment: "The young men of Albany, 
the yoimg men of this generation and of the succeeding generations, 
may they live forever, but may the constitution and the Union outlive 
them all." 

I have gladly journeyed to your capital to take part in these cere- 
monies, and I can assure you that no state takes a deeper or more 
alfectionate interest in any honors which can be paid to your distin- 
o-uished statesman than the state of New York. New Hampshire 
and New York have much in common. They both actively engaged 
in the o-reat struggle for indepentlenee, and each made glorious rev- 
olutionary history. Our citizens have many business relations w^ith 
the people of your state. Both loyally sustained the Union cause in 
the war of the rebellion. I recollect the fact that New Hampshire 
was the birthplace of one of my distinguished predecessors, he who 
uttered the famous sentiment, who issued the familiar order, "If 
any man attempt to haul down the American flag, shoot him on the 
spot." Your state may well be proud of being the birthplace of both 
Daniel Webster and Gen. John A. Dix. lam also reminded that 
every block of granite of which the magnificent capitol of the state 
of New York is constructed, comes from the quarries of New 
Eno-land. It is to be feai-ed that New Yorkers are sometimes too 
apt to imagine that their state overshadows in importance the 
other portions of the country. A trip through your beautiful and 
prosperous state will dissipate that illusion. 

In other countries the great commercial metropolis of New^ York 
city seems to be confounded with New York state and the whole 
country. At a public dinner given to Mr. AVebster at Buffalo, N. Y., 
in 1851, he himself alluded to this subject, speaking as follows: 
"The commercial character so far pervades the minds of commercial 
men all over the world that there are many men who are very 
respectable and intelligent who do not seem to know there is any- 
thing in tlie United States but New York. When I was in England 
it was asked of me if I did not come from New York. I told them 
that my wife came from New York, and that was something. Well, 



THE DEDICATION EXERCISES. 49 

gentlemen, I had the honor one day to be invited to a state dinner by 
the lord mayor of London. lie was a portly and dignified gentle- 
man. He had a big wig on his head all powdered, and ribboned 
down behind, and I had the honor of sitting between him and the 
lord mayoress. There were three hundred guests, and all the luxu- 
ries and gorgeousness of the lord mayor's dinner. Soon after the 
cloth was removed his lordship thought proper to take notice of his 
American guest. He seemed not to know exactly who I was. He 
knew I was a senator, but he seemed to have little idea of any place 
in the United States but New York. He arose : ' Gentlemen,' said he, 
'I give you the health of Mr. Webster, a member of the upper sen- 
ate of New York.' " Mr. Webster was, of course, greatly surprised 
as well as amused at the blunder of his English host, which thus 
summai'ily reduced him fi'om the high and exalted jiosition of a sen- 
ator of the United States to that of a senator in the legislature of a 
single state. I can assure you, however, that New York would have 
been proud to have had Mr. Webster her senator in either her uiJjDer 
or lower senate, or in any other braneli of her legislature. 

I must not detain you longer. I came to listen rather than to 
speak. I realize too well that elaborate eulogy cannot add anything 
to the greatness or distinction of the man whose statue you unveil 
to-day. We have none of us forgotten the magnificent oration of 
Edward Everett on AVebster, delivered about thirty years ago upon 
a somewhat similar occasion. He has left nothing for any one to 
say in regard to Webster in this generation. It is the most brilliant 
production of this age in tlie line of oratory, and will answer for all 
the future. 

In conclusion, permit me to suggest that while the jjure and gen- 
erous motives which prompted the erection of this statue are to 
be heartily commended, it was not needed to prevent the name of 
Daniel Webster from being forgotten by posterity. Neither marble, 
nor granite, nor bronze, nor iron, nor brass, is necessary to perpetu- 
ate his fame. It may be well said of him, 

"Art to his fame no aid hath lent, 
His country is his monument." 

SPEECH OF GOVERXOR FREDERICK ROBIE, OF MAINE. 

My Friends, — I thank you very much for this pleasant introduc- 
tion and cordial greeting. I am aware that it is not personal in its 
character, but is largely due to the fact that I am here to-day to 
represent the state of Maine ; and I am glad to be here, and equally 
glad to join in these interesting exercises. I bring with me the 
4 



50 STATUE OF DANIEL WEBSTER. 

kind wishes and good will of all our people, and the congratulations 
of the state for what you have done in honor of that great man, 
Daniel Wel^ster. I have not the honor of being a son of New 
Hampshire, but on reflection find that I can claim to be a grand- 
son. My father loved New Hampshire very much, which sentiment 
is appreciated by me. My father was born in Candia, N. H., in 
1782, the very year that gave birth to that great man, Daniel 
Webster, and he was his friend, his political friend, and his great 
admirer. I recollect very well my earliest impressions of Daniel 
Webster, which were made by looking at his portrait, a steel 
engraving, which my father for fifty years had hanging in his 
library. It remains there to-day, my present home, and brings back 
many pleasant memories ; and I am glad to notice here in this beau- 
tiful city, under the shadows of your churches and schoolhouses and 
in front of your capitol, that there stands for the observation and in- 
spiration of the great public an enduring life-like statue of Daniel 
Webster. Michael Angelo once made a wonderful statue of ISIoses 
for one of the great cathedrals in Rome, and when he had finished 
it, it was so complete and life-like that he walked up to it and 
said : " Speak, or I will break you into a thousand pieces." There 
was undoubtedly a satisfactory response, for that statue has en- 
dured for centuries, and even now speaks in favor of the man who 
made it. With a becoming relationship to the statue of the great 
lawgiver of earliest times, this statue of Daniel Webster is dedi- 
cated to-day. It will speak to coming generations in language which 
we cannot understand with the ear because it is silent, but it still 
speaks. It speaks of the majesty of the divine decalogue and the 
principles of Christian religion which were his guide ; it speaks for 
the union of this great nation, one and inseparable, for which he was 
a godlike advocate ; it speaks for the sovereignty of the people, 
liberty, and constitutional law ; it is a representative of the public 
benevolence and progressive civilization of New England, and it 
speaks for that. It will stand lieneath the smiles of heaven in a 
cathedral whose Ijoundaries are the horizon, as the proud representa- 
tive of the greatest man of this period. The statue of the Egyptian 
Memnon is said to have emitted musical soirnds when first visited by 
the morning sun, wliich the imagination of the listener was allowed 
to interpret. This statue must be superior in influence and eftect to 
these ancient traditions, for from early morning to the shade of even- 
ing it will continually speak to the people of New Hampshire, to the 
peo])le of INIaine, to the peo})le of this great nation, and tlie people 
of the civilized world, of the ])rinciples whicli he advocated, and of 
which he was the great and acknowledged exponent. 



THE DEDICATION EXERCISES. 51 



SPEECH OF GOVERNOR PINGKEE, OF VERMONT. 

Mr. President and Felloiv Citizens, — It needed not the invitation 
of your executive committee, sir, to induce the state of Vermont to 
be represented here on an occasion of this cliaracter and concerning 
the memory of this great man, Mr. Webster. Grateful as all her 
people would ever be to be represented by their executive head on 
an occasion devoted to the memory of such a man, nevertheless, 
independently of my official trust or the performance of any official 
duty, as a son of New Hampshire, as a native of the town of 
Salisbury, as one who attended school in the same district that Mr. 
Webster attended, as one who attended and aftei-ward taught in that 
town at tiie same academy where Mr. Webster attended and taught, 
as one of the New Hampshire men who pursued his steps through 
their beloved college at Dartmouth, that has been so eloquently rep- 
resented here to-day in the person of our orator who has addressed 
us on tliis occasion, I come from and for luy adopted state to add my 
words to yours touching this man of genius and of greatness who 
belonged to both states alike. For, Mr. President and gentlemen, in 
representing my adopted state and speaking for her, as Avell as in 
my individual love for tlie name and the history and the memory 
of Daniel Webster, I may say that Vermont, the Green Mountain 
State — the New Hampshire grants, — claims Daniel Webster by 
birthright as much as the state of New Hampshire can claim him. 
At the time his eyes first saw light up there in the old town of Salis- 
bury, the state that. I represent was a part of your state which we 
all represent to-day. She, Vermont, the first-born state of this 
American Union, comes to-day feeling honored that she may unite 
with New Hampshire, the last state that made the American Union, 
do honor to the memory of tliat illustrious statesman and to the 
deeds of the greatest man in oratory, as has been stated here, that 
has ever lived in any country or at anytime. And speaking for my- 
self and many of my native and my adopted state, I can affirm that 
they have drawn their true inspiration of country love — that pa- 
triotic devotion that was so sorely needed in days not long past — 
from those grand speeches left us by Mr. Webster more tlian from 
all the other literature our school days furnished. 

From those majestic appeals for the integrity and perpetuity of the 
Union, which the man whom this statue represents has left upon the 
pages of American history, the men of your generation and mine, 
Mr. President, have drawn more of that patriotism and character 
which insured our salvation as a united people than from all the rest 
of the great orations of our land and time. I know not how, — in- 



52 STATUE OF DANIEL WEBSTEK. 

deed, I fear it were not possible tliat tliis noble land of ours sliould 
stand to-day, having so successfully withstood all the assaults that 
were brought to bear against her, had it not been that the young Jiien 
of our boyhood days and later had imbibed from those great orations 
the grand political sentiment that the unity of these states and the 
lil)erties of this people must stand or fall together, and one could not 
exist without the other. 

That one outpouring of unstudied and resistless eloquence where 
he deplored the scene of a broken Union, or brightened at the sight 
of a prosperous and united country, which Weljster left so api)eal- 
ingly to the men of his time as well as to the unborn generations, to 
stand now and forever by the integrity of the Union, has, to my ap- 
prehension, already done more than the sayings of any other man 
towards inspiring " our young men fit for war" to save the govern- 
ment in her struggle against the power of secession. And that same 
inspiration will reach forward from that speech through the corridors 
of time, infusing patriots and marshaling soldiers ever ready at their 
country's need in the wars for freedom and for the rights of men. 

SPEECH OF HON. JOHN A. BINGHAM, OF OHIO. 

By the favor of his Excellency it is my high privilege to partici- 
pate in the ceremonies of this day. I am not here for personal dis- 
play, but merely to bear witness to the men of this commonwealth of 
the deep gratitude which I feel and cherish for the memory of the 
man with whose name and fame I was made familiar in my child- 
hood, youth, and manhood, and who by his ^ >at public services 
commanded my admiration and became an idol of my aft'ection. 

New Hampshire honors herself by honoring her most illustrious 
son. Now that Daniel Webster has put off this mortal and has put 
on immortality, it is eminently fitting that the state of his nativity 
should at the porch of her capitol perpetuate in enduring bronze his 
majestic form and features. Those who saw and heard this man of 
large discourse, this matchless statesman, jurist, and orator, in the 
greatness of his strength, felt, and the words involuntarily pressed 
upon their lips for utterance, "How noble in reason, how infinite in 
faculties." This life-like statue of Webster is for posterity. He 
needs it not. The dead only are the immortals of our race. They 
alone receive the crown of an endless life. Those who saw and heard 
Webster saw and heartl the man of their times who had taken ^dl 
knowledge for his province, and lived laborious days that he might 
do faitlifully and well his whole duty to his God, his country, and 
his race. 



THE DEDICATION EXERCISES. 53 

To found and perpetuate our American nationality with its consti- 
tution of free government deriving its powers from the consent of 
the people, and established in order to secure liberty to all and jus- 
tice to all by the combined power of all, may well be reckoned as 
one of the greatest of human achievements. 

The men of the Revolution, under the guidance of Washington, 
first of Americans and foremost of men, wlio by his example gave 
new "ardor to virtue, and new coniidence to truth," founded our 
republic and drafted its constitution. These men whom God taught 
to build for glory and for beauty, and who formulated the fabric of 
American empire with its centralized power and decentralized ad- 
ministration, thereby made us a nation organized by the perpetual 
union of thirteen separate and independent states united into one, 
and to be further enlarged by the addition of such new states as 
mio-ht thereafter be formed within the national domain, subject to 
and restricted by the constitution of the United States, the funda- 
mental law of the repul^lic. This complex system of civil polity 
was a new and untried experiment, the like of which had never be- 
fore been read or heard of in human story. When Washington had 
finished his work, standing upon the isthmus between two eternities, 
and in his own ^\ords, was soon " to be consigned to the mansions 
of rest," he addressed to his countrymen then in life, and to the mil- 
lions of his countrymen who might come after him, his farewell 
words, wherein he advised them that the "unity of government, 
which' constitutes us one people, is the main pillar in the edifice of 
our real independen'^-^" ; that pains would be taken and artifices 
employed to weaken lu their minds the conviction of this truth, that 
our constitution, "perfectly free in its principles till changed by the 
explicit and authentic act of the whole people, is sacredly obligatory 
upon all" ; and, finally, that "in proportion as the structure of gov- 
ernment gives force to pul^lic opinion, it is essential that public 
opinion be enlightened." As public opinion under a free represent- 
ative government is mightier than armies, it is indispensable that it 

be enlightened. 

AVhen Washington died, happily for our country Webster lived, 
and soon thereafter took his place in the national service. At that 
time and after, designing, ambitious men, careless of their country's 
welfare and of the interests of mankind, aggressively began the 
work of disunion by disseminating among the people the theory that 
there was no American nationality ; that what was called the consti- 
tution of the United States was in fact not a constitution, but a 
league, a compact, a confederation merely between the se\eral states 
thereof ; that each state retained its separate sovereignty and inde- 



54 STATUE OF DANIEL WEBSTER. 

pendence ; that the government of the United States was l)ut the 
agent of the states, and was created by the states, and subject at any 
time to be abrogated by tlie several states, and the separate action 
of all or any one of said states. Of the falsity of this theory, and 
the peiil and disaster which must result from it if accepted by the 
people and carried into eft'ect, it was Xew Hampshire's great son 
who warned and instructed the people as no other man of his day 
did or could warn or instruct them. With the prescience of a seer 
Webster saw clearly and foretold what must come of this theory if 
acted ujion by one or more of the states of the Union. More than 
any man of his day he was the educator of the peoj^le on all the 
questions involved touching the powers of the national government 
and the reserved powers of the states. In the great debates in the 
senate in 1830-33, he gave utterance to his thoughts in defense of 
the suin-emac}' of the constitution and in exposition of the constitu- 
tion, which fell upon the nation's mind like a prophet's words, and 
found their way into the hearts of the people, and convinced them 
that the people of all the states and all the territories of the Union 
were a nation, were one people, with one government, one country, 
and one destiny ; that the constitution of the United States was es- 
tablished and ordained by the people thereof, and not by the states ; 
that it is what it is declared on its face to be, the constitution of 
the United States of America, — not a league or compact, but the 
constitution, the fundamental and supreme law of the land, sacredly 
obligatory upon every state and territory, and upon the people of 
every state and territory in the Union ; that no state had color of au- 
thority to secede from the Union, or to nullify the constitution or 
any law of the United States, or to pass any statute or ordinance in 
conflict with the nation's constitution and laws. Webster clearly 
comprehended the righteousness there is in right understanding, and 
therefore exerted his great powers to educate the whole people and 
possess them of the right understanding of their national constitution 
and of their duties and obligations thereunder. In the performance 
of this service he did more than any other American citizen since 
Washington to form and enlighten the public opinion of the United 
States in i-egard to their constitution and government, to the nation's 
rights thereunder, and to the duties, rights, and obligations of the 
citizens of the United States. 

Mr. Webster, in his masterly and conclusive argument in reply to 
Mr. Calhoun, the chiefest and ablest of the advocates of the theory of 
state sovereignty and the alleged right of states severally to secede 
from the Union and nullify the constitution and laws of the nation, 
demonstrated as clearly as it is possible for human reason to demon- 



THE DEDICATION EXERCISES. 55 



strate any proi)Osition within the compass of tlie human understand- 
ing, that the constitution of the United States is a national, funda- 
mental law, ordained by the people of the United States, essential to 
the nation's life, and is the supreme law of the land, anything in the 
constitution and laws of any state to the contrary notwithstanding. 
Among other weighty words, he said what the people have since af- 
firmed and made good, that in the constitution it is the people who 
speak, and not the states ; that the maintenance of the constitution does 
not depend on the plighted faith of the states as states to support it ; 
but that it relies on individual duty and individual obligation ; . . . 
that if the friends of nullitication should give practical effect to their 
opinions, they would prove themselves the most skillful architects of 
ruin, the most effectual extinguishers of high-raised expectations, 
the greatest blasters of human hopes that any age has produced. 
"The people," said he, "will stand fast by the constitution and 
by those who defend it. ... I shall exert every faculty I 
possess in aiding to prevent the constitution from being nullified, 
destroyed, or impaired, and even should I see it fall, I will still, 
with a voice feeble, perhaps, but earnest as ever issued from human 
lips, call on the people to come to the rescue." 

Webster's prayer was, that in his expiring moments he might not 
see a land rent with civil feuds and drenched in fraternal blood, 
or look upon the broken and dishonored fragments of a once glori- 
ous Union. His prayer was granted; he passed to his rest before 
that fearful conflict burst upon the coimtry, when our sun went down 
at mid-noon, and night and storm and thick darkness fell upon the 
nation, and the land was rent with civil feuds, and the foundations 
of the republic rocked beneath the earthquake shock of battle. In 
that supreme moment of peril to the nation, its constitution, and laws, 
the people, not unmindful of Webster's w^ords that the people 
would stand by their constitution and that he called upon them to 
come to its rescue, did come in their might to its rescue. 

" They came as the winds come w^hen forests are rended, 
They came as the waves come when navies are stranded." 

The loyal, faithful people made a sublime sacrifice in defense of 
the nation, its constitution and laws; more than three hundred 
thousand of them gave up their lives in the fierce conflict that their 
country might live, and by their virtue, their valor, and their self- 
sacrifice they made their death beautiful. They conquered a peace 
for their counti-y ; they vindicated the nation's rights and maintained 
the supremacy of the nation's constitution and laws. It Avas a vu,-- 



66 STATUE OF DANIEL WEBSTER. 

toiy for the whole country, for liberty, for justice, and for humanity. 
Webster, by his never-to-be-forgotten instructions and thoughts, as 
clearly contributed to this victory of the people as did Grant, the 
hero of the century, by his sword. The constitution, re-formed and 
maintained, is still supreme over all the land. It embodies the 
democracy of the New Testament, —liberty, fraternity, and equality. 
The Union stands undivided and unbroken, more firmly established 
than at any time in our history. The republic stands secure, known 
and honored throughout the earth, numbering sixty millions of 
freemen, and covering the continent from ocean to ocean. It looks 
out on Europe from its eastern and on Asia from its western shore. 
May the republic, saved by suftering and sacrifice and martyrdom, 
be perpetual. 

ODE TO DANIEL WEBSTER, IJV WILLIAM C. SHEPPARD, OF NORTH 
SCITUATE, MASS., A NATIVE OF NEW HAMPSHIRE. 

O fair XcAV Hampshire's noblest son, 
The mighty, glorious, and great. 
Most cherished of thy native state. 

The immortal and tlie godlike one ! 

To thee we rear the modest token 

Of love and gratitude and praise, 
And offer s})eech and song and lays, 

But speak and, sing in accents broken. 

We praise thee for thy strong right arm. 
On which the nation leaned secure ; 
Thy heart, so tender, fond, and pure, 

That loved her with a love so warm ; 

And for thy tongue so eloquent 
And full of sweetest melody. 
Whose tones rang out from sea to sea. 

Enrapturing a continent. 

Tliy liand Columl)ia"s lyre swept o'er, 
Antl made all j'arring notes agree ; 
Awoke tlie strains of liberty 

And unity forevermore. 



THE DEDICATION EXERCISES. 57 

What though thy body 's by the sea, 

Beneath the Pilgrims' hallowed hill ? 
Thou ever livest, livest still, 

Enshrined in grateful memory ! 

Within thine arms the nation lies ; 

Thy mighty heart-throbs yet she feels ; 

And still the same thy music peals 
Throughout the land, along the skies ! 

Descend, ascend, ye cherubim, 

Upon the ladder of his glory. 

And bear aloft to God the story. 
Our thanksgiving for the gift of him — 

Him ! him ! Columbia's greatest son. 
The mighty, glorious, and grand. 
Most cherished of his native land, — 

The godlike and immortal one 



r 



After the reading of the ode by its author, the Handel 
Society of Dartmouth College sang ''Integer Vitce" very 
beautifully. 

INTEGEK VIT.E. 

" Integer vitas scelerisque purus 
Non eget Mauris jaeulis, neque arcu. 
Nee venenatis gravida sagittis. 
Fusee, Pharetra ; 

Sive per Syrtes iter a^stuosas, 
Sive facturus per inho.spitalem 
Caucasum, vel qua? loca fabulosus 
Lambit Hydaspes. 

Namque me silva lupus in Sabiiia, 
Dum meam canto Lalagen, et ultra 
Terminum curis vagor expeditis 
Fugit inermem ; 



58 



STATUE OF DANIEL WEBSTER, 



Quale portentum neqne militaris 
Daunias latis alit tesculetis, 
Nee JubjB tellus generat, leonnm 
Arida nutrix. 

Pone me, pigris ubi nulla campis 
Arboi" sestiva recreatur aura, 
Quod latus mundi nebulas malusque 
Juppiter urget ; 

Pone sub curru nimium propinqui 
Solis, in terra domibus negata: 
Dulce ridentem Lalagen amabo, 
Dulee loquenteru." 

— Horace, Book I., Ode 22. 

MEMBERS OF THE HANDEL SOCIETY WHO SANG AT THE WEBSTER 

MONUMENT UNVEILING. 



R. G. Brown, 
A. H. Chase, 
K. H. Goodwin, 
A. H. Hale, 



r. P. Brackett, 
G. W. Glass, 
E. B. Hale, 



''86 Seniors. 

E. S. Hill, 
E. J. Hatch, 
W. P. Kelley, 
E. P. Pitman, 



W. Sampson, 
H. W. Thurston, 
F. T. Vaughan. 



''87 Juniors. 

E. A. Howdand, 
AV. D. Quint, 
J. C. Simpson, 

''88 Sophomores. 
F. H, Chase, R. N. Fairbanks 

''80 Freshmen. 



A. J. Thomas, 
F. J. Urquhart. 



J. I. Buck, 
F. L. Bugbee, 
A. Chase, Jr., 



C. B. Curtis, 
E. B. Davis, 
W. P. Hale, 



L. H. Ingham, 
E. L. Williamson. 



ADDENDA 



At the conclusion of the exercises in state-house park, 
the guests of the state were escorted to the Eagle Hotel, 
where a banquet was served. His Excellency Governor 
Moody Currier presided, and grace was said by President 
Samuel C. Bartlett. There were no speeches at this time. 

During the day Hon. George W. Nesmith received the 
following greeting, by telegraph, from the Bunker Hill 
Monument Association, through its president : 

Boston, June 17, 1886. 
Hon. George W. Nesmith, President, Concord, N. H. : — 

The. Bunker Hill Monument Association, assembled at its annual meet- 
ing upon tlie one liundred and eleventli anniversary of the battle, con- 
gratulates the people of New Hampshire upon the erection and dedica- 
tion of a statue of Daniel Webster this day at the capital of their state. 

Holding in grateful remembrance his services on its own behalf, the 
Association cordially unites in every honor to the memory of this illustri- 
ous citizen, statesman, and patriot. 

CHAS. DEVENS, President. 

The reply of Mr. Nesmith was as follows : 

Concord, N. H., June 17, 1886. 
The Hon. Charles Devens, PresH Bunker Hill Monument Association, 
Boston, Mass. : — 
New Hampshire receives with gratification the congratulatory despatch 
from your Association. Mr. Webster's fame, though broad as the Union, 
is specially identified with the glory of his native state, and with the glory 
of the state of his adoption. It will live as long as the morning light 
shall gild the monumental shaft which his eloquence twice consecrated, 
or as the light of parting day shall linger and play upon its summit. 

GEO. W. NESMITH, President. 



MEETING OF DARTMOUTH COLLEGE ALUMNL 

At a fully attended meeting of the Dartmouth College 
alumni of Concord, May 10, 1886, at which Hon. J. Everett 
Sargent, class of 1840, presided, the subject of holding a 
reunion of the alumni, in connection with the dedication 
exercises, was considered, and a committee of arrangements 
was appointed as follows : Henry J. Crippen, class of 1861 ; 
Frank S. Streeter, Esq., class of 1874; Henry M. French, 
M. D., class of 1876 ; John P. George, Esq., class of 1878 ; 
Edward N. Pearson, class of 1881. The committee subse- 
quently organized by choosing Frank S. Streeter chairman, 
and Henry J. Crippen treasurer. 



Sketch of Benjamin Pierce Cheney. 



BENJAMIN PIERCE CHENEY. 



" Honor and shame from no condition I'ise ; — 
Act well your part, there all the honor lies." 

Benjamin Pierce Cheney, to whose munificence his 
native state of New Hampshire is indebted for the pos- 
session of a statue of Daniel Webster, equal if not supe- 
rior as a work of art to any similar memorial of her 
great statesman, traces his lineage back to Tristram 
Cheney, who was born in Roxbury, Mass., in 1720, and 
who after several removals finally died at Barnet, Vt., in 
1815, at the age of ninety-five years. 

The subject of this sketch was the eldest of eight chil- 
dren, and was born August 12, 1815, in the town of 
Hillsborough, IST. H. His father, Jesse Cheney, was by 
trade and occupation a l)lacksmith, and became embar- 
rassed in his circumstances as the result of being surety 
for a neighbor on an official bond. The maiden name of 
his mother was Alice Steele. His parents were married 
November 25, 1813. His father was born in the town of 
Antrim, N. H., October 3, 1788, and died in the city of 
Manchester, N. H., June 22, 1863. His mother was 
born in Antrim, N. H., August 12, 1791, and died at 
Manchester, July 28, 1849. Mr. Cheney was named in 



62 STATUE OF DANIEL WEBSTER. 

honor of his father's neighbor, Gov. Benjamin Pierce, 
father of President Franldin Pierce. 

The early part of the current century was a primitive 
period in the history of the Granite State. ISTew Hamp- 
shire was then ahnost purely an agricultural community. 
The railroad was not, nor the electric telegraph. The 
cotton mill was unknown in her borders. The state was 
largely a rural district, but her inland towns were as a 
whole quite as populous then as now. Gov. Pierce pre- 
sented his young namesake with three cosset sheep for 
his name. Such a gift was specially appropriate in a 
pastoral community. 

The embarrassed circumstances of his father made it 
necessary for the boy to exert himself for his own and 
the family's support. At the early age of ten years he 
was employed in his fixther's shop ; then in a tavern in 
Francestown, l!T, 11. ; and later in a store in the same 
town. But indoor life proving destructive to his health, 
he purchased his time from his father, and commencing 
at the age of sixteen he drove the stage from Iveene to 
Nashua and Exeter, driving fifty miles a day without the 
loss of a trip for six consecutive years. Among the pas- 
sengers in his stage-coach was Daniel Webster, who saw 
in Mr. Cheney "the promise and potency" of the highly 
successful, energetic, and public-spirited business man 
and citizen which he ultimately became. ^Mr. Webster 
took so much interest in j'oung Cheney that upon his 
going into the express business he wrote out and pre- 
sented to him, in his own handwriting, the laws relating 
to common carriers. Mr. Cheney always held his illus- 
trious friend in o-rateful remembrance, and finallv deter- 



BENJAMIN PIERCE CHENEY. 63 

mined to give to his native state a statue of liim, which 
purpose and intention were so happil}^ fulfilled on the 
seventeenth day of June of the current year (1886). 

"While Mr. Cheney was engaged as a stage-driver the 
Boston & Lowell Railroad was oj^ened. This was one of 
the initial railroads, and helped to inaugurate the rail- 
road system of the country. In 1842 railroads were 
extended to Concord, IST. II. Then it was that Mr. Che- 
ney embarked upon this recently opened railroad line in 
the express business, of which he was the principal pio- 
neer and founder, and which under his direction and 
management has been expanded from a merely local into 
a continental business. 

The various express companies inaugurated and man- 
aged by Mr. Cheney, commencing with the local express 
between Boston and Concord, ^N. H., and subsequently 
extending over this route to Canada and the West, have 
now been consolidated with the American Express Com- 
pany, of which Mr. Cheney is still one of the executive 
officers. It is in connection with these enterprises that 
his name is most familiar to the business men of l^ew 
England, but he has been specially prominent throughout 
the country in the inauguration and management of the 
Overland Mail, Wells & Fargo's Express, the Atchison, 
Topeka & Santa Fe, ISTorthern Pacific, Mexican Central, 
and Vermont Central railroads, and he is to-day a direc- 
tor in nearly all of these corporations, as well as of the 
Northern (N. H.) Railroad. Mr. Cheney's career em- 
braces the commencement and development of the rail- 
road system in this country. It extends back to the days 
of the old stao-e-coach and the freight wagon. 



64 STATUE OF DANIEL' WEBSTER. 

Diirine: his active life the California o;old mines were 
discovered, and the electric telegraph was invented. He 
has been connected with and taken advantage of many of 
the wonderful improvements which characterize the world 
of to-day. He has lived in an age of wonderful opportu- 
nities, and has availed himself of them. Beside his gift 
of the Webster statue and of fifty thousand dollars to 
Dartmouth College, he has manifested in many ways pri- 
vately a beneficence even more honorable to him as a 
man than any instances of his public munificence. 

Mr. Cheney was married June 6, 1865, to Elizabeth S., 
daughter of Asahel Clapp, a former well-known mer- 
chant of Concord, Is". H. Three daughters and two sons 
are the fruits of this marriage. Mr. Cheney has a large 
and elegant farm in "Wellesley, Mass., where he and his 
devoted wife make their happy summer home specially 
attractive in dispensing a free and constant hospitality. 
His private and public acts of liberality have endeared 
him to hosts of friends, and no man, either in his native 
state or the state of his adoption, can boast of more gen- 
eral rejoicing at his prosperity, or a more sincere desire 
that a long and happy life may be vouchsafed to him. 



Proceedings of Dartmouth Alumni. 



PROCEEDINGS OF DARTMOUTH ALUMNI. 



The gathering of the graduates of Dartmouth College 
exceeded in every respect an^^thing in the history of the 
college. The alumni headquarters were established in 
the Representatives' Hall, where, during the day, between 
three hundred and four hundred names were enrolled. 
The oldest class represented was 1832, and from that date 
to the present it was stated that only one class failed to 
have a representative. At four o'clock the graduates 
formed in procession in the western portion of the state- 
house park, under the marshalship of Albert S. Batchel- 
lor, of Littleton, of 1872. The roll of classes was called, 
and the oldest alumnus was given the head of the col- 
umn. He was followed by those of succeeding dates, the 
line being closed by nearly a hundred undergraduates 
who came from Hanover in a special train. As the pro- 
cession passed down State and up Pleasant street on its 
way to the rink, whei-e the meeting was to be held, sharp 
lookout was kept to discover any alumnus who happened 
not to be in the line. "When any such was seen many 
lusty voices would call for him, and the ranks would be 
opened to receive him. In the rink, tables extended 
throughout the floor, with an ofiicial one at right angles 
at the head. In the galleries were a large number of 



68 STATUE OF DANIEL WEBSTER. 

spectators, personal friends of the graduates. At the 
head of the table sat Hon. Walbridge A. Field, of Bos- 
ton, the president ot the meeting. On his right was the 
chaplain. Rev. E. 0. Jameson, of 1855, of Millis, Mass., 
and next the orator, Hon. Mellen Chamberlain, of 1844, 
of Boston. On the left of the president was the toast- 
master, Hon. George A. Marden, of 1861, of Lowell. 
When Mr. Field rose to call the meeting to order it was 
evident that he was deeply impressed by the number and 
character of the large assembly. 

Grace was said by Rev. E. 0. Jameson, after which an 
hour was devoted to the dinner. After cio-ars had been 
lighted, Judge Field introduced the orator, Mr. Cham- 
berlain, who on rising was greeted with earnest applause. 

JUDGE CHAMBERLArN'S ORATION. 

I am siu'e, Mr. President, that the alumni of Dartmouth College 
desire, first of all, to exjiress to his Excellency the Governor, and to 
the honorable council of the state of New Hampshire, their grateful 
sense of the privilege of jiarticipating in the dedication of a statue 
of Daniel Webster on his native soil ; and to add that they regard 
the selection of the president of the college for the part which he 
has performed in these interesting ceremonies with distinguished 
success, as a manifestation of good will by the state to the college 
which is ai^preciated by all its friends. 

The relations of the college to the state are peculiar. As a cor- 
poration it is older than the state ; for the charter of the college, 
which is still the basis and measui'e of its rights, and irrevocable ex- 
cept for cause, came from George the Third when New Hampshire 
was a royal province, without charter, and governed under the king's 
commission, which was revocable at his pleasure. 

To-day we witness an extraordinary proceeding. The state ac- 
cepts as a gift from an estimable and loyal citizen, and with the 
according voices of thousands of other citizens also loyal, sets up in 
a conspicuous place before the most august symbol of its authority^ 
a statue of Daniel Webster, to whom more than to any other man 
is due that construction of the constitution of tlie United States which 



PROCEEDINGS OF DARTMOUTH ALUMNI. 69 

overthrew a legislative act of the sovereign state of New Hampshire, 
reversed the solemn decision of its highest judicial tribunal, and 
erected Avithin its jurisdiction an imperium in imperio which will 
endure as long as the constitution endures. 

And it is well ; for the state and the college have been mutually 
helpful. The state has been the benefactor of the college; and if 
not munificent when com])ared with more opulent states, yet liberal 
in a deo-ree honorable to a government which derived its revenues 
from a people without profitable industries until the stimulus of 
foreign capital had aroused the slumbering giant of the Merrimack, 
and whose agricultural interests rapidly declined when canals and 
railroads opened the markets of the East to the disastrous competi- 
tion of the more fertile West. 

But now a new era has begun. Necessity has developed a new 
industry. Thrift and the near approach of hunger have stimulated 
the conversion of pure air and mountain scenery into merchantable 
commodities, happily indispensable to the sweltering coi'n-growers 
and pork-packers of the malarial prairies. A retributive corner has 
been made, — reasonably permanent, if we may rely upon the provi- 
dentially slow growth of mountains, and remunerative, we hope, 
" beyond the dreams of avarice."' These inspiring facts open a 
vista. In the distance the college is seen reveling in opulence. 

If the state has been liberal according to her means, the college 
has recognized her reciprocal obligations, and met them with prompt- 
itude and efficiency. Erase from the state's roll of honor, of which 
she is justly proud, the names of those sons of Dartmouth who have 
gained distinction in science, in jurisprudence, and in public afl:airs, 
and the place of New Hampshire would be less conspicuous than it 
now is among her sister states. Give back to unlettered drudgery 
those undistinguished sons of Dartmouth who with minds quickened 
by liberal studies have followed their professions on hillsides, or in 
sequestered valleys, — narrow, but necessary fields of labor, — and 
there would be a manifest decline of intelligence, good judgment, 
and moral sense in those communities. 

I do not purpose to dwell on those special relations of Daniel 
Webster to the college, to which I have adverted ; but in the general 
relations of debt and credit between the college and the people of 
the state, Daniel Webster was included. Born remote from the 
centers of civilization and culture, and without the means of access 
to them, there was danger, and in his case, from temperament, 
special danger, lest he would grow up in obscurity, and add one more 
to the large number of richly endowed but imperfectly educated men 
of which New Hampshire was full, who gave to the wilderness 



70 STATUE OF DANIEL WEBSTER, 

Ijowers which might have made them consi^icuous on any theatei- of 
action. More than most men of anything like his intellectual force, 
Daniel Webster needed the stimulus of education and the j^rospect 
of a career. This needed help was just what the college gave. She 
Oldened the mine, she laid bare the ore, — abundant, massive, pure, 
— and set it free, as currency bearing the royal stamp of genius, 
to enrich the Avisdom of the peojile and the English speech of the 
world. This was his chief debt to the college. 

Apart from Webster^s natural endowments, no one was more 
" heinously unprovided," as he said, Avith education or pecuniary 
means "to break into college." Luckily, it was not far to seek; 
otherwise he might never have found it. But he sought it and 
entered. When there, unlike Bacon and Milton at English Cam- 
liridge, he made no complaint of the education it afforded. It was 
the best he was prepared to receive, and both parties Avere satisfied. 
She gave him all she had to give, and Avith all her requirements he 
cheerfully complied. Both Avere young together, both Avere poor, 
and laoth struggling to gain a foothold on bare creation. It is idle, 
but Ave may guess if Ave will, how much and in what respects Web- 
ster might have been greater, had he, after the preparatory training 
of such schools as Eton or Winchester, been educated at Oxford or 
Cambridge, Avith their splendid librai'ies, their exact scholarshiji, 
their impressive antiquity, and the stimulating influence of the long 
lines of their illustrious graduates. 

Such were the relations to the college of Daniel Webster as an 
undergraduate. He Avas greatly in her debt. But there came a time 
Avhen all this was changed, — an hour when her need was sore and 
pressing, and his help Avas seasonable and adequate ; an hour Avhen 
he repaid the unforgotten debt of his youth ; Avhen he secured im- 
mortality for her, and laid the foundations of his own. 

But, gentlemen, I must not forget even in this presence that tliere 
ai-e other claims than ours to Daniel Webster. He Avas a son of 
New Hampshire, and he Avas the foremost man of his country. Of 
all the great Americans of this century, perhaps of any century, he 
was the most genuinely and thoroughly American ; of all, most un- 
doubtedly a product of our soil, climate, institutions, and modes of 
life. He owed mucli to the state of his birth, l)ut he owed nothing 
to any other state. He owed much to his New Hampshire ancestors ; 
but to them, and to them alone, Avas he indebted for his rich inherit- 
ance. In him there Avas no intermixture of nationalities ; no cross- 
ing of plebeian with patrician blood. His pedigree Avas of Ncav 
IIami)shire, and as i)ure as the air he breathed. Unlike Morris, Gal- 
latin, and Hamilton, he was born on our soil. His forefathers Avore 



PROCEEDINGS OF DARTMOUTH ALUMNI. 71 

also born on it, unlike the ancestors of some of those who in Revolu- 
tionaiy days rendered illustrious services to the country. For a 
hundred and fifty years they had lived in New Ilampsliire. Into 
them had entered the cold blasts from the jjolar circle, and the fierce 
heats which seemed to have strayed from the tropics. Every droj) 
of their blood, every fiber of their flesh, every bone and sinew, had 
become Americanized. For five generations, not from the safe re- 
treats of garrisoned settlements, but on the skirmish line of civiliza- 
tion, they had waged strenuous war with barbarism, and changed 
the wilderness into habitable abodes of men. 

To all these transforming influences Daniel Webster was fortu- 
nately heir. We of New Hampshire think that he was also fortimate 
in the place of his birth. The glory of a state, sir, is in its men ; 
— not in its broad acres ; not in its fertile soil ; not in its rich mines ; 
but in its men. That is a great state which produces great men, 
and virile were the loins that begat the Websters, the Starks, the 
Langdons, the Bartletts, the Smiths, the Bells, the Pierces, the 
Woodburys, the Casses, the — but I need a day for the rest. 

Without doubt Daniel Webster was fortimate in the jjlace of his 
birth, — in sight of the majestic mountains ; not far fi'om the beauti- 
ful river ; the mountains in their grandeur, the tyjie of his character ; 
the river in its reserved strength, no unfit emblem of his life. In 
this pure air, full of light reflected from the purple hills, — himself 
made thoughtful by the nearness of dark forests and the sound of 
distant waterfalls, feeding his imagination with traditions of Rogers, 
Putnam, and Stark, the old French war rangers, and of Cilley, 
Scammell, and Poor, his father's compatriots in arms during the war 
of the Revolution, — Daniel Webster gathered his scanty education, 
a genuine son of New Hamj^shire. Here he was born. Here lie 
"mewed liis mighty youth." Here he clothed himself Avith glorious 
manhood. He owed little to other forms of civilization. His mind, 
his character, and his pei'sonality, his thoughts, and his style of their 
expressfon Avere of New Hami^shire. His latest j^olitical and con- 
stitutional ])rinciples bore the impress of his earliest. When he 
left his native state he was a complete man. He gained little or 
nothing that was essential by association with communities more 
cultured than those he left behind him. These were of the sea ; 
those were of the mountains. Not always in accord with the domi- 
nant political party of his native state, he was more nearly so than 
with the extreme Federalists of New England. 

Thus was he born, so was he reared, and such he remained, — a 
true and loyal son of New Hamjishire. She claims him as her own. 
With all his great qualities she claims liim ; she claims him with all 



72 STATUE OF DANIEL WEBSTER. 

his faults. He had faults, but she foi'gave them in that hour when 
he defended the constitution ; she forgot tlieni — forgot them all 
and forever — when she beheld the Union made one and inseparable 
by the insiiiration of his prevailing eloquence. 

Her son, this complete man, bone of her bone and flesh of her 
flesh, she gave to the country. Few states ever had such a son to 
ofter. Fortunate the country which receives such a gift. Costly as 
it was, it was given without reserve and for all the ages. New 
Hampshire is neither able nor desires to recall it. She cannot 
reclaim his wisdom embedded in the constitution. She would not 
imloose the golden cord of jiatriotism with which he bound the states 
in perpetual union. 

More than threescore years and ten have passed since Daniel 
Webster, in the prime of his manhood and in the fullness of his 
great powers, went forth from New Hampshire to the service of his 
country. What those services were is known of all men. To-day 
he returns. Once more his foot is on his native soil, in sight of the 
majestic mountains he loved so well, not far from the river on whose 
banks he was born. Shouts from the hillsides, answering shouts 
from the valleys, welcome his return. Sir, I cannot think him dead. 
Not in the flesh, indeed, does he stand before us. No longer do 
those dark eyes flash upon us their inward light, and the voice which 
once rang like a trumpet is now silent. Yet, in a sense more true 
than his own pathetic words, he still lives. To-day we have erected 
a statue of Daniel Webster, — of Daniel Webster dead. Webster 
dead ! Who closed the eyes of that great intelligence ? Who saw 
the train go forth bearing that majestic soul to the tomb ? Who 
wrapped in cerements and closed the marble doors on those thoughts 
that breathed and those words that burned ? 

Alas ! in the blindness of our grief we thought that it was so, and 
spake of him as of one that was dead ; but time and great events, and 
men's second thoughts and more charitable judgments, and loving- 
hearts that quicken at the sound of his name, — all proclaim him 
livino-. Yet we have erected a statue of Daniel Webster; and it is 
well ; for monuments to great actions, and statues of men truly 
great are not dead things, nor are they to the dead, but to the living. 
Tlie deeds they emblazon are immortal deeds, not transitory; deeds 
which light the centuries, not the hours, in their pathway to glorious 
actions. Tliey illustrate what thev teach ; they are what they com- 
memorate. If yonder statue is not Daniel Webster in the flesh, it is 
Daniel Webster transfigured with the immortality of genius ; with 
passionate patriotism wliicli never grows cold ; with love of home 
and kindred which feels no touch of earthly years ; with 



PKOCEEDINGS OF DARTMOUTH ALUMNI. 73 

' ' truths that wake 
To pei'ish never." 

And through the years that are to come, to all who may enter yonder 
leg-islativehall, and to the long procession of men who shall walk 
these sti-eets, those lips will still have language, will still defend 
the constitution, will still inspire sentiments of nationality. Nor 
can I think that it ever will be otherwise : for the inspiration of great 
endeavor is its immortality ; the potency of great achievement is its 
indestructibility. The past assures the future. The discourses at 
Plymouth Rock and at Bunker Hill were not for an hour ; nor was 
the Great Reply. In the days of their utterance they were resplen- 
dent, unprecedented eloquence ; but they spake truest when they be- 
came wisdom to Lincoln and valor to Grant ; they rang loudest when 
heard along the front of battle, and inspired deeds of immortal hero- 
ism on a hundred fields. No : the statue is not to the dead orator 
but to the living who speaks to us, and will speak to those who come 
after us, as he'' spake to those, his associates, the venerable men 
happily with us to-day, Avho 

" followed him, honored him, 
Lived in his mild and magnificent eye. 
Learned his great language, caught his clear accents, 
Made him their pattern to live and to die." 

The sentiments were as follows : — 

Dartmouth College : 

Cradled by the river-side 
Where the Indian schoolboy played, 
In New Hampshire's untrod wilds, 
Far from busy haunts of trade ; 
Dowered scant with worldly goods. 
Reared in humble penury, 
Struggling through long years of toil, 
Rich and powerful ne'er to be. 

But to-day still toiling on 
Rich become, though not in pelf. 
Powerful, too, in best of sense — 
Rich and strong in sons and self; 
Glorious always is her work, 



74 STATUE OF DANIEL WEBSTER. 

Glorious now as glorious then, 
Product of her fostering care 
Strong and self-reliant men. 

As to-day we gather here 
Webster's statue to unveil, 
Not alone his fame we crown," 
Piers, as well, our plaudits hail. 
She to him was mother true. 
He to her was more than son ; 
But for both far less the fame 
We her other boys had won. 

If her monument is sought, 

Let the poet's answer be 

Given the seeker : Search no more, 

It is here, — " Circumsx>icc."' 

Responded to by President Bartlett. 

The State of Neiv ITampshirf : Famous for her scenery, her granite, 
and her men, but chiefly known as being the seat of Dartmouth 
College. 

Response by Hon. B. F. Prescott, of Epping. 

The Press. 

W. E. Barrett, editor of the Boston Advertiser, was 
called on, but as he had left to take the train, E. C. Car- 
rigan responded. 

FAoqiiencc as described tjij li'un ivlio spulx as seldom man has spoken : 
" The high purpose, the prime resolve, speaking fi'om the tongue, 
beaming from the eye, and urging the whole man onward, right 
onward to his purpose, — this, this is eloquence, or rather it is 
something nobler and higlier than all eloquence, it is action." 

Hon. J. W. Patterson, who was introduced as the Peri- 
cles of Dartmoutirs later years, responded. 



PROCEEDINGS OF DARTMOUTH ALUMNI. 75 



RESPONSE BY HON. J. W. PATTERSON. 

Brother Alumni,— Ona should have the genius and felicity of 
Pericles to respond suitably to the introduction with which the too 
partial kindness of our chairman has embarrassed me, but now such 
poor gifts as I have are paralyzed by the force and cordiality of your 
fraternal greeting. This magnificent gathering of the sons of Dart- 
mouth represents the learning, experience, and wisdom of all pro- 
fessions and interests of the republic, and not to be profoundly 
moved by such an xmstinted and spontaneous expression of its confi- 
dence and regard, one must be something more or less than human. 
Such unsolicited honors are the compensations of life, and from my 
heart, gentlemen, I reciprocate the warmth and sincerity of your 

reception . 

Reverting to the theme to which you called me up, we must con- 
fess that ill times past our college has been accused of sacrificing 
the accessories of oratory to the more solid and disciplinary studies 
of a collegiate curriculum. The limited resources of the institution 
in its earlier history doubtless restricted somewhat its provisions for 
special and ornamental branches. Chairs devoted exclusively to 
studies relating immediately to the art of public speaking could not 
be sustained by a depleted treasury without trenching upon the 
mathematics, the classics, physics, psychology, and other masculine 
departments in which Dartmouth has always been strong. Fortu- 
nately the necessity for such limitations has passed away, and to-day 
the college stands equipped for all the modern courses of study. 

But has the cause of a true and manly eloquence ever really suf- 
fered by defects in the work of our Alma Mater ? I appeal to the 
record. Inspect the roll of American orators. Are the names of her 
sons less conspicuous or relatively less numerous than those of other 
and more wealthy institutions ? In purity, strength, impressiveness, 
and simple grandem-, the eloquence of that supreme statesman and 
lawyer whose statue we have this day inaugurated stands unrivaled 
at home and unsurpassed in the forensic or patriotic literature of 
other lauds, in ancient or moilern times. There, too, is the peerless 
Choate, Webster's Homer, who made even the sulking of our Achil- 
les a personal glory. Where in court or senate has the fullness of 
his learning, the splendor of his diction, or the quickness and subtlety 
of his peix-eptions been surpassed since the days of Erskine and 
Burke ? In his speeches, thought, like waves of the sea, rolls m 
upon us in endless succession, bearing an oriental wealth of illus- 
tration and glowing with the heat of an intense and lofty passion. 
Time would fail us to recall the graduates of our college who in leg- 



76 STATUE OF DANIEL WEBSTER. 

islative halls, in courts, in pulpits, in 2Joi:)ular assemblies, and in 
every arena of public service have influenced society- with the power 
and fascinations of impressive speech. 

True eloquence is infinitely more and greater than felicity of style 
and the witchery of voice. It demands that strong and definite 
grasp of jjrinciples, that quickness and clearness of a^jprehension, 
that strength and tenacity of conviction, which come only with the 
discipline of thought, and this is the fruitage of those severer studies 
which from the first have characterized the work of our college. 
We weary of empty declamation, however deftly worded or artfully 
modulated, and turn with disgust from simulated emotion. 

" Life is real, life is earnest," 

and our public utterances, if they would secure a sympathetic re- 
sponse from the popular heart, must reach the vital problems of the 
time, must deal with events and policies that affect the conditions 
and the welfare of society. The graces of rhetoric add to the effec- 
tiveness of speech, but the prime essential of high oratory is strong 
masculine thought that solves the practical questions of social and 
public life. The collegiate training that imparts mental power and 
discipline does most for the eloquence that moves the masses in this 
utilitarian as:e. A chastened imagination and a cultured taste will 
o-ive to lano'uag-e the o-races and beauties of high scholarship, and 
are important factors in the art of oratory, but its essential element 
is strong, sensible, and sustained thinking. 

Great orators, like great poets, are born, not made. No school can 
claim the paternity of eloquence. Like the radiance of the diamond, 
it springs from intrinsic qualities that are the work of nature. But 
the school, like the lapidary, gives an added beauty and effectiveness 
to gifts that are divine. Special endowments of intellect and tem- 
perament must be disciplined and habituated to the concentration 
and proper blending of their forces, or they will fail of their higliest 
possibilities of achievement. The supreme masters of the forensic 
art are often dull and disappointing in formal discourses and occa- 
sional addresses. Tliouglit refuses to flow and the sensil)ilities to 
awaken to indift'erent themes. The mental powers expand and the 
passions kindle with the grandeur of the issue. When liberty is 
struck down, or the rights of states are in i)eril, when nations rock 
with revolution, or popular industries perish, when the social organ- 
ism is assailed or immortal destinies are at stake, then utterance 
becomes historic and sublime. The soul rises to the magnitude 
of the interests involved, and thought, learning, passion, all come 



PROCEEDINGS OF DARTMOUTH ALUMNI. 77 

to the aid of the creative faculty, and lift into the literature of the 
world forms of eloquence that can never die. 

Absolute intellectual and moral honesty is the indispensable in- 
spiration to all enduring speech. We cannot impart to trains of 
thought and spoken sentiment not grounded in personal conviction 
that strength of emotion whicli is the genius of true eloquence. We 
cannot convince others of the truth of what we do not ourselves be 
lieve. Nature rebels against an untruth and reveals the affectation 
of dishonest declamation. An intuitive apprehension reads the lan- 
guage of the heart and discounts the words of him who inlays a part. 
Expression, if possible, should be original and accvirate, simple 
and leai'ned, and radiant with the golden light of a chastened fancy ; 
but whatever else it may have, if it is not honest, sensible, and pro 
found, it will be ejihemeral. 

Words may be beautiful, may be artistically woven into language 
and fall like nectar from the lip, but if not embalmed in the aspira- 
tions of the popular heart, if not expressive of ideas and princijiles 
that take hold of the real, permanent, and solemn interests of man- 
kind, they will rarely take their place among the great orations 
whose eloquence lives in various tongues and thrills through the 
ages. 

We do not claim for our A'eneT"able and venerated mother extraor- 
dinary pre-eminence to other institutions ; but in this family re- 
union we should be unjust to her memory if we did not assert for 
her sons a foremost place among the orators of the republic who 
have won for themselves an undying fame. Whei'ever the rights of 
men were to be asserted, wherever the principles of government 
were to be expounded and its authority maintained, wherever the 
majesty of law was to be exalted, the intellectual and social interests 
of society advanced, or the claims of revelation pressed upon the 
conscience, the voices of our Ijrothers, living or dead, have been 
heard and heeded amid the strife. Ko logic has been more poten- 
tial, no pathos more moving, and no wisdom more heeded than 
theirs in the great crises of our national and social life. It has 
been my good fortune to listen to many of the great orators of this 
generation, but among them all there have been none that surpassed 
and few that equaled some of the sons of " Old Dartmouth." We 
have a right to be j^roud of our Alma Mater and her children. 
Nor is the line exhausted. The past is prophetic of the future. 
The bounty of Providence has not exhausted its best gifts. In 
the roll-call of our second centennial there will be names, now 
unknown to fame, as honored and illustrious as any that the past 
has placed among the immortals. To-day we hail our orators yet 



78 STATUE OF DANIEL WEBSTER. 

to be. Listen to the Macedonian cry, young men, and press to 
the front. There is a great work and a splendid future before you. 
Remember it is 

"Better to stem with heart and hand 
The roaring tide of life, than lie 
Unmindful, on the flowery strand, 
Of God's occasions drifting by." 

Dartmouth Lawyers: Hooker spoke of "Law, whose seat is the 
bosom of God, whose voice is the harmoii}' of the world."" That 
is the kind of law the Dartmouth graduates i^ractice. 

RESPONSE BY COL. JOHN H. GEOKGE. 

My first duty is to welcome to New Ham^jshire's capital these sons 
of New Hampshire's college, and this I do most cordially. One and 
all I bid you welcome to paiticipation in the most appropriate cere- 
monies in honor of Dartmouth"s greatest son. As I listened to the 
admirable address of my friend and classmate, Hon. Mellen Cham- 
berlain, on this occasion, my thoughts were carried back to the sum- 
mer of 1840, when he and I had just finished our preparatory studies 
at the old academy on yonder hill. On commencement week of that 
year we journeyed, with mj father's horse and wagon, across the 
country to visit Hanover for the first time, and be subjected to the 
examination for admission to the college. Professor Sanborn, — 
who came nearer than any other man I ever knew to being an ency- 
clopedia of general knowledge, — I remember, examined me in 
Latin ; Professor Crosby, whose love of the classics surpassed the 
" love of woman," estimated my Greek; and Professor Young, Sr., 
whose death left a marked vacancy in the ranks of scientific men, 
sul»jected me to some investigation, the particulars of which I have 
now forgotten. I remember only the general fact that we wei'e, 
without conditions, admitted as freshmen to the college which had 
graduated Webster and Choate, and that we wei'e several sizes larger 
when we returned to our homes at the end of the week than we were 
when we left Concord at its beginning. Dr. Lord, who to an unsur- 
passed degree combined the full courage of his convictions with 
vigor, tact, and marvelous ability, and Avhose memory is sjiecially 
dear to tin; sons of Dartmouth, was the college ijrcsident. Profes- 
sors Haddock, Sanborn, Chase, Brown, Crosby, Young, Avith tutors 
Joseph Bartlett and Brown, became our active teachers. All are 
gone. 1 believe no one then connected with tlie college in any offi- 
cial capacity now remains to tell the tale of college reminiscences. 



PROCEEDINGS OF DARTMOUTH ALUMNI. 79 

But changed as all is in the college and its immediate surround- 
ings, there are no changes more marked than those involved in the 
means and methods of reaching Hanover from all directions, and 
especially in the roadside accommodations. In 1840 the stages 
usually left Concord for Hanover at four o'clock a. m., but at the 
beginning of the college term, when crowded with students, they 
started as early as two o'clock in the morning. With the highways 
double-rutted by the heavily loaded eight and ten horse teams, it 
took full twelve hours of hard driving, ''astraddle the nits,'' and 
harder riding, to make the journey from Concord to Dartmouth 
College. This tiresome ride was relieved every few miles by the 
stoppage of the stage at a country tavern, a post-office, or a hill so 
steep as to require the unloading of the coach. Few of the Dart- 
mouth graduates, before the construction of the Northern Railroad, 
can fail to remember the old Johnson tavern at Fisherville ; the 
West and Ambrose inns of Boscawen Plain ; Choate's hill, up which 
the horses drew with difficulty the empty coaches, and on top of 
which stood the horse-shifting station ; the Smith and Webster stands 
at " South road" and " Center road" in the town of Webster's birth ; 
the more dignified " hotels" at Mousam and West Andover, and the 
magician's home at the Potter place ; the station where the stage 
horses were changed in Wilmot ; the old Stickney tavern in Spring- 
field ; the pretentious " Willis House" at Enfield Center, which was 
subsequently moved to White River Junction when the raili'oad was 
opened there; the Lafayette Hotel at Lebanon; and finally the 
" Lower Tavern" and Dartmouth Hotel at Hanover. 

A year ago I attended commencement with my friend, the gener- 
ous contributor to the funds of the college as well as the liberal 
donor of the statue this day so fitly dedicated, traveling with my 
carriage over the old stage road for the first time for more than 
forty years. I found the broad, double-rutted turnpike narrowed in 
places almost to a bridle path ; and of the old hostelries, but two 
or three remained. The rest have either disajipeared or been put 
to other uses; and the Dartmouth boys who frequented them in 
their frolics or their journeys to and from college, so far as they 
sui-vive, have grown gray in the activities of life. 

I have often thought that these rough and tough old highways 
and tougher taverns had much to do with strengthening both the 
physical and mental powers of the old-time collegians. Dartmouth 
lawyers all traveled these highways; they all ate and drank and 
frolicked at these country inns. 

Show^ me any institution which can match the lawyer list of Dart- 
mouth College in native ability, in legal acquirements, in keenness 



80 STATUE OF DANIEL WEBSTER. 

of perception, in energetic action, in forensic eloquence, or in logical 
power. At honie or abroad, where can it be equaled? Among her 
dead she points to Daniel Webster, Ezekiel Webster, Rufus Choate, 
Samuel Sumner '\^'ikle, Levi Woodbury, Ichabod Bartlett, Salmon 
Portland Chase, Richard Fletcher, Joseph Bell, Ether Shepley, Isaac 
Fletcher Redfield, Samuel Bell, Joel Parker, Harry Hibbard, George 
Foster Shepley, William Henry Bartlett, and Ira Perley. Among 
her living sons are Doe, Field, Brigham, Ross, and their associates 
upon the New England bench; Marston, Ranney, Minot, Ayer, 
Bingham, Parker, Ladd, Bruce, Rollins, and a multitude of others, 
who adorn the bench or grace the bar of the different states. It can, 
without exaggeration and with good reason, I think, be said, that 
Dartmouth graduates have had their full share of success in all the 
learned professions, but in no calling has their prominence been 
more marked than in the practice of the law. ]\Iay the integrity, 
industry, energy, pluck, and learning which have hitherto charac- 
terized the lawyers of Dartmouth, continue to characterize her 
graduates, and the old college in the future, as in the past, will 
continue justly proud of her sons. 

The following Dartmouth graduates (with dates of graduation) 
have held important judicial positions : — 

Sylvester Gilbert, 1775, justice county court. Conn. 

John Samuel Sherburne, 1776, justice United States district court, 

N. H. 
Elijah Brigham, 1778, justice court common pleas, Mass. 
Jedediah Parker Buckingham, 1779, justice county court, Vt. 
Calvin Goddard, 1786, justice supreme court. Conn. 
Ebenezer Brown, 1787, justice county court, Vt. 
Samuel Sumner Wilde, 1783, justice supreme court, Mass. 
Martin Chittenden, 1789, justice county court, Vt. 
Moulton Morey, 1789, justice county court, Vt. 
Richard Clair Everett, 1790, justice court of common pleas, N. H. 
Asa Lyon, 1790, justice county court, Vt. 
Sanuiel Porter, 1790, justice county court, Vt. 
Dudley Chase, 1791, chief-justice supreme court, Vt. 
William H. Woodward, 1792, chief-justice court of common pleas, 

N. 11. 
Samuel Bell, 1793, justice supreme court, N. H. 
Isaac Hall Tifiany, 1793, justice court of common pleas, N. Y. 
Joshua Darling, 1794, justice court of common i)leas, N. H. 
Daniel Meserve Durell, 1794, chief-justice court of common pleas, 

K. H. 



PROCEEDINGS OF DAETMOUTH ALUMNI. 81 

William Howe, 1794, justice county court, Vt. 

Thomas Heald, 1794, justice supreme court, Ala. 

Nicholas Baylies, 1794, justice supreme court, Vt. 

Judah Dana, 1795, justice court of common pleas. Me. 

Heman Allen, 1795, justice coimty court, Vt. 

Nicholas Emery, 1795, justice supi'eme court. Me. 

William Bradley, 1796, justice county court, N. Y. 

Parker Noyes,* 1796, justice supreme court, N. H. 

William Wilson, 1797, justice court of common jileas, Ohio. 

Phineas White, 1797, justice county court, Vt. 

Joseph Locke, 1797, chief justice court of common pleas, Mass. 

John Cox Morris, 1798, justice county court, N. Y. 

Samuel Swift, 1798, justice court of common pleas, Vt. 

Elisha Hotchkiss, 1801, justice county court, Vt. 

Aaron Loveland, 1801, justice county court, Vt. 

Sanford Kingsbury, 1801, justice court of common pleas. Me. 

Nathan Weston, 1803, chief-justice supreme court, Me. 

Calvin Selden, 1803, justice county court. Me. 

Israel P. Richardson, 1804, justice county court, Vt. 

Denison Smith, 1805, justice county court, Vt. ; state's attorney. 

David Cummins, 1806, justice court of common pleas, Mass. 

Matthew Harvey, 1806, justice United States district court, N. H, 

Richaixl Fletcher, 1806, justice supreme court, Mass. 

Albion Keith Pai'ris, 1806, justice supreme court, Me. 

Timothy Farrar, 1807, justice court of common pleas, N. H. 

Levi Woodbury, 1809, justice United States supreme court. 

Daniel Wells, 1810, chief-justice court of common pleas, Mass. 

Seth Cogswell Bakhvin, 1810, justice court of common pleas, N. Y, 

Joel Parker, 1811, chief-justice supreme court, N. H. 

Ether Shepley, 1811, chief-justice supi-eme court. Me. 

David Pierce, 1811, justice county court, Vt. 

Daniel Breck, 1812, justice supreme court, Ky. 

Isaac McConihe, 1812, justice county court, N. Y. 

Jonathan Kittredge, 1813, chief-justice court of common pleas, N. H. 

David Campbell Smith, 1813, justice coiirt of common pleas, Ohio. 

Daniel M. Christie,* 1815, justice supreme court, N. H. 

Charles Frederick Gove, 1817, justice court of common pleas, N. H. 

Leonard Wilcox, 1817, justice supreme court, N. H. 

John Dwight Willard, 1819, justice court of common j^leas, N. Y. 

George Washington Nesmith, 1820, justice supreme court, N. H. 

Nathaniel Gookin Upham, 1820, justice sui^reme court, N. H. 

* Appointeil, but did not accept. 



82 STATUE OF DANIEL WEBSTER. 

Ira Perley, 1822, chief-justice supreme court, N. H. 

John Chambedain, 1823, justice county court, 111. 

Jonas Cutting, 1823, justice supreme court, Me. 

Benjamin West Bonney, 1824, justice supreme court, N. Y. 

Abel Underwood, 1824, justice circuit court, Vt. 

Robert Reed Heath, 1825, justice supreme court, N. C. 

Isaac Fletcher Redfield, 1825, chief-justice supreme court, Vt. 

Andrew Salter Woods, 1825, chief-justice supreme court, N. H. 

Charles Milton Emerson, 1826, justice district court. La. 

Salmon Portland Chase, 1826, chief-justice supreme court. United 

States. 
William Gustavus WoodAvard, 1828, justice supreme court, Iowa. 
Ira Allen Eastman, 1829, justice supreme court, N. H. 
Charles William Woodman, 1829, justice court of common pleas, 
N. II. 

David Aiken, 1830, justice court of common pleas, Mass. 

Goviverneur Morris, 1830, justice circuit covu-t, Mich. 

Peabody Atkinson Morse, 1830, justice supreme court, Cal. 

John Barron Niles, 1830, justice circuit court, Ind. 

Asa Fowler, 1833, justice supreme court, N. H. 

Samuel Locke Sawyer, 1833, justice circuit court. Mo. 

Jacob Gale, 1833, justice circuit court. 111. 

Samuel L. Sawyer, 1833, justice circuit court, Mo. 

Daniel Clark, 1834, justice United States district court, N. H. 

Harry Hibbard,* 1835, justice supreme court, N. H. 

Timothy Parker Redfield, 1836, justice supreme court, Vt. 

Josiah Minot, 1837, justice court of common pleas, N. H. 

Horace Mower, 1837, justice supreme court, Xew Mexico. 

George Foster Shepley, 1837, justice first circuit court United States 
(Me., N. H., Mass., and R. I.). 

Frank Emerson, 1838, justice court of common pleas, Ind. 

Charles Augustus Harper, 1838, justice supreme court, Ark. 

James Barrett, 1838, justice supreme court, Vt. 

Jason Downer, 1838, justice supreme court, Wis. 

Jonathan Everett Sargent, 1840, chief-justice supreme court, N. H. 

William Ballard Smith, 1840, justice circuit court, Ind. 

Lincoln Flagg Brigham, 1842, chief-justice superior court, Mass. 

Stephen Gordon Nash, 1842, justice superior court, INIass. 

Jolm Sewall Sanborn, 1842, justice court of Queen's Bench, Canada. 

INIilton Wason, 1842, justice county court, Cal. 

Thomas 'William Freclon, ^XV.), justice superior court, Cal. 

* Appointed, but did not accept. 



PROCEEDINGS OF DARTMOUTH ALUMNI. 83 

Josluia James Guijpey, 1843, justice county court, Wis. 

Levi Benjamin Taft, 18-1:3, justice circint court, IMicli. 

Mellen Claamberlain, 1844, cliief-justice municipal court, Boston, 

Mass. 
Jolm Noble Goodwin, 1844, chief-justice supreme court, Ar. Ter. 
Harvey Jewell, 1844, justice court Alabama claims. United States. 
Benjamin Franklin Dennison, 1845, chief-justice supreme court. 

Wash. Ter. 
Sylvanus Converse Huntington, 1845, justice court of common pleas, 

N. Y. 
Isaac William Smith, 1846, justice supreme court, N. H. 
Joseph Mills Cavis, 1846, justice district court, Cal. 
Edward Jenner AYarren, 1846, justice cii'cuit court, N. C. 
William Henry Bartlett, 1847, justice sujireme court, N. H. 
Aljjha Child May, 1847, justice circuit court. Wis. 
Austin Adams, 1848, chief-justice sujireme court, Iowa. 
Oliver Miller, 1848, justice court of apjseals, Md. 
Charles Humphrey JNIooar, 1848, justice county court, Ky. 
Charles Doe, 1849, chief-justice supreme court, N. H. 
Marquis DeLafayette Lane, 1849, justice superior court. Me. 
Clinton Warrington Stanley, 1849, justice sujireme court, N. 11. 
Lewis Whitehouse Clark, 1850, justice supreme court, N. H. 
Edward Towle Brooks, 1850, justice supreme court, Canada. 
Jonathan Ross, 1851, justice sui^reme court, Vt. 
Edward Jessup Wood, 1853, justice court of common pleas, Ind. 
Henry Wilder Allen, 1854, justice court of common pleas, N. Y. 
William Callahan Robinson, 1854, justice supreme court, Conn. 
Henry Wilder Allen, 1854, justice supreme court, N. Y. 
William Henry Harrison Allen, 1855, justice suj^reme court, N. H. 
Walbridge Abner Field, 1855, justice supreme court, Mass. 
William Si:)encer Ladd, 1855, justice supreme court, N. H. 
Henry Whipple Perkins, 1855, justice county court, Iowa. 
Greenleaf Clark, 1855, justice supreme court, INIinn. 
Azro Dyer, 1856, justice superior court, lud. 
Caleb Blodgett, 1856, justice suijerior court, Mass. 
Elijah Francis Dewing, 1856, justice district court. La. 
William John Galbraith, 1857, justice United States district court, 

Mont. Ter. 
Benjamin Hinman Steele, 1857, justice supreme court, Vt. 
John Cushman Hale, 1857, justice court of common pleas, Ohio. 
Wheelock Graves Veazey, 1859, justice supreme court, Vt. 
Roger Sherman Greene, 1859, chief-justice supreme court. Wash. 

Ter. 



84 STATUE OF DANIEL WEBSTER. 

Daniel Ashley Dickinson, 1860, justice supreme court, Minn. 
Daniel Gustavus Rollins, 1860, surrogate. New York city. 
Nathaniel Holmes Clement, 1863, justice city court, Brooklyn, N. Y. 
John Sanborn Connor, 1865, justice court of common pleas, Ohio. 
Horace Russell, 1865, justice superior court, N. Y. 

At the close of Col. George's response, Judge Cham- 
berlain arose and said he had omitted in his oration an 
important portion, and read from manuscript as follows : 

"The ffift of the statue is to the state ; and while it is neither fit- 
ting nor necessary that the sons of Dartmouth should add to the 
acknowledgment of the donor's munificence of his Excellency the 
Governor, we cannot forget that Benjamin Pierce Cheney was one of 
the largest and most timely benefactors of the college. And may I 
not add a word in anticipation of more formal recognition of the 
fact, that the idea of erecting a statue of Daniel AVebster on New 
Hampshire soil originated with the eminent citizen identified for the 
past thirty years with the political history of the state, and always 
a true friend of the college, whose masterly discourse on Daniel 
Webster first suggested, and whose labors have efiiciently promoted, 
the grateful act this day consummated. I hardly need say that I 
refer to Col. John H. George." 



o 



The Dartmouth Alumni: Artemas Ward's military company was 
made up wholly of brigadier-generals. In like manner the 
alumni of Dartmouth are all Fellows — Pro auctoritate mihi 
comm^issa, "Hi. Juvenes'''' sunt good fellows. 

Hon. John Wentworth was expected to respond, but as 
he had left the building lion. David Cross, of Manches- 
ter, responded. 

Dartmouth and Loyalty. 

Response by Capt. Henry B. Atherton, of Nashua. 

Tlie Modern Militia. 

Gen. Philip Carpenter, of ISTew York city. 



PROCEEDINGS OF DARTMOUTH ALUMNI. 85 

At this point Judge Field, for a committee of the Bos- 
ton Akimni Association, outhned the report which would 
be made to the annual meeting of the Alumni Associa- 
tion at Hanover the following week. It contemplated 
the election of an advisory board of fifteen alumni to act 
with the trustees ; the secretary and treasurer to be resi- 
dent in Hanover and elected annually. The duties of the 
board, it was proposed, should be to attend the college 
examinations, examine the financial affairs of the college, 
revise the courses ot study, etc. Hon. David Cross in 
his response said the plan struck him favorably. Capt. 
Atherton alluded to the brave deeds of Dartmouth men 
in the rebellion. The closing toast by Gen. Philip Car- 
penter was in a humorous vein, and brought to an end 
the very pleasant exercises. The singing by the Handel 
Society of Dartmouth College was much enjoyed, and the 
several college airs were liberally applauded. The fol- 
lowing resolutions were offered by E. C. Carrigan, and 
adopted : — 

Resolved, That this association approve of the report of the pro- 
gress of the general committee of alumni tlirough its chairman, 
Judge Field, and said committer be respectfully requested to report 
in print at a meeting of the alumni next week. 

Resolved, That the hearty thanks of this association be tendered 
the executive committee of Concoi'd alumni for their invaluable ser- 
vices to old Dartmouth in organizing this gathering of gi-aduates 
and classmates, a convention historic for its associations, with dedi- 
catory exercises of the day, and the greatest in the history of the 
college. 



Appendix. 



LETTERS. 



We append the following appreciative letters, from the 
President of the United States and other distinguished 
invited guests, in reply to official invitations : — 

from the president of the united states. 

Executive Mansion, 
Washington, June 12, 1886. 

Hon. Moody Currier, Oovemor of New Hampshire : 

Dear Sir, — I regret that i^ressing official duties will not permit 
me to be present at the exercises attending the unveiling of the 
statue of Daniel Webster at Concord, on Thursday next. 

Every occasion which does honor to this illustrious statesman is of 
extraordinary interest to all American citizens, since our pride in 
his career and achievements is not in the least limited by partisan 
influences or by any sentiment less than national. 

It would be well if in the capital of every state there stood a statue 
such as Concord boasts, which should not only perpetuate the mem- 
ory of a man, but which should also keep alive through coming gen- 
erations the love and veneration of the American people for true 
American greatness. Yours very truly, 

GROVER CLEVELAND. 

FROM EX-PRESIDENT RUTHERFORD B. HAYES. 

Fremont, O., May 15, 1886. 

Hon. Moody Currier, Governor of Neiu Hampshire, 

Hon. Gilman Marston, Chairm^an of Legislative Committee : 
Gentlemen, — I have the honor to acknowledge the receipt of your 



90 APPENDIX. 

valued invitation to be present at tlie dedication of the statue of 
Daniel "\^'ebster, on the 17th of next month. 

New Hampshire is to be congratulated on her patriotic purpose 
worthily to honor the memory of her most illustrious son. She has 
many titles to the regard of her sister states, none better than the 
fact that she gave to the whole country Daniel "Webster. 

I regret that my engagements do not permit me to accept your 
invitation. Sincerely, 

R. B. HAYES. 

from samuel j. tilden. 

Greystone, Yonkers, N. Y., 

June 16, 1886. 

Hon. Moody Currier, Governor of Neiv Hampshire, 

Hon. Gilman Marston, Chairman of Legislative Committee: 

Gentlemen, — I have the honor to receive your invitation toi:)artici- 
pate in the exercises of the day as the guest of the state of Xew 
Hamijshire, on Tluirsday, the 17th of June, at the dedication of the 
statue of Daniel Webster, at the capital. Cordially agreeing with 
the people of New Hamj^shire in their admiration of the illustrious 
orator and statesman to Avhose memory this homage is to be ren- 
dered, and several of whose great speeches it was my good fortune 
to hear, I regret that the condition of my health will not allow me 

to be jDresent on so interesting an occasion. 

S. J. TH.DEN. 

from ROBERT C. WINTHROP. 

Boston, June 1, 1886. 

His Excellency Moody Currier, Governor of New Hampshire, 
Hon. Gilman Marston, Chairtnan of Legislative Committee: 
Gentlemen, — Absence from home for a month past must be my 
apology for not having sooner acknowledged jour kind and compli- 
mentary invitation of May 11. 

It would aftbrd me peculiar jjleasure and pride to be present, as a 
guest of New Hampshire, at the reception of the statue of Daniel 
Webster. It was my good fortune to assist at the luiveiling of a 
similar statue, by the same artist, in the Central Park of New York, 
in 1876 ; and more recently T liave united with the ]Marslitield Club 
in celebrating the centennial anniversary of AVebster's birtliday. I 
could add nothins: to what 1 said on those occasions, and should ha 



APPENDIX. 91 

ill danger of weakening by repetition the testimony I am always glad 
to hear to the sm'passing jjowers of one with whom I was so long 
associated ; hut engagements, from which I cannot escape, unite 
with the infirmities of age in constraining me to deny myself the 
privilege of being at Concord on the 17th inst., and I can onlj^ ofter 
you my best thanks for your obliging invitation. 
Believe me, with the highest respect. 

Very faithfully yours, 

ROBERT C. WINTHROP. 



from benjamin f. butlek. 

Continental Hotel, Philadelphia, 

June 15, 1886. 
Major-General Oilman Marston : 

My dear Marston, — I pray you grieve with me. You, I know, 
will fully appreciate how I am distressed when I write you 1 can- 
not be in Concord at the imveiling of the statue of the foremost 
lawj'er of Massachusetts, as well as the foremost lawyer of the 
country. My age enables me to look back and remember that long 
ago I was with Webster, nay, that I feebly aided in a cause in the 
trial of which he was engaged, and in that cause he uttered a sen- 
tence wliich was an aphorism in re^jly to his opposing counsel, 
Choate, who claimed that his woman client had only been engaged 
in innocent fi-eedom. " Freedom," rei^lied Webster, " is a very good 
political but a very bad female word." This trial took place liefore 
the Hon. Richard Fletcher, associate justice of the supreme court of 
Massachusetts. Judge Fletcher was a New Hampshire lawyer of 
the same town with Webster ; and I have the privilege of remem- 
bering another IMassachusetts lawyer, born and educated in New 
Hampshire, Jeremiah Mason, Avhom Mr. Webster believed to be 
the best lawyer in the United States, for it is said he answered to a 
friend who asked him who was the best of the Country : " Of course I 
should say," said Webster, " Chief-Justice John Marshall ; but if you 
should take me by the throat and back me up into the corner, and 
say, ' Now, Webster, on your honor, who is the best lawyer in the 
United States?' I should have to answer, 'Jeremiah Mason.'" 

I intended at the dinner, — for on such occasions there always is a 
dinner, — to propose as a toast, the three greatest lawyers of ]\[assa- 
chusetts, — Mason, Webster, and Fletcher, all of New Hampshire ; 
and my toast would be correct in any event, because if any doubted 
concerning any one of them, the other two would be so great as to 



92 APPENDIX. 

overshadow any other three, and I should be sustained as was a 
bright nephew of mine, now deceased, who, when asked who were 
the three greatest liars in the United States, replied, "Eli Perkins 
is one," and gave a name, whicli I shall not, as the other two. 

My dear General, with such an appreciation of such a leader at 
the bar, and in the forum of the United States, to whose name and 
fame New Hamj^shire, if not entitled to a greater, is to an equal 
share with Massachusetts, when he is to be honored by his native 
state, and I, born in the same stale, because of that distinction have 
been invited by its authorities to be present at what may not be 
inajjpropriately termed the solemn festivities of dedicating a statue 
to his memory, find myself unable to attend, you can realize my 
grief. I am here to close a cause in argument to a jury to-morrow, 
to whom it will be submitted the day following. The case has been 
on hearing some three weeks, and you, my lawyer soldier friend, 
know that it is as impossible for a lawyer to desert his client's case 
as it is for a soldier to desert his post in the hour of battle. I can 
express my sori'ow by no stronger woi'd than, I cannot come. 

I am vei-y truly your friend, 

BENJ. F. BUTLER. 

from «. k. nuttek. 

Harvard College, Cambridge, Mass., 

May 18, 1886. 
Hon. G. Marston, Chairman of Committee : 

Dear Sir, — President Eliot regrets that his engagements will not 
permit him to accept the polite invitation to attend the dedication of 
the statue of Daniel Webster. 

Your obedient servant, 

G. R. NUTTER, 

PrcsidenVs tiecretary. 

from MARSHALL P. WILDER. 

Dorchester, Mass., June 8, 1886. 

Hon. George W. Nesmitii, John INI. Hill, John H. George, 

Legislative Committee : 

Gentlemen, — I accept with pleasure your invitation to tlic imveil- 
ing of the Webster statue. If life and strength hold out, I shall be 
present to participate with tiie sons of New Hampshire in llic cere- 



APPENDIX. 93 

monies of that ausiiicious occasion ; but with the weight of fourscore 
and eight winters on my head, I feel I am a minute man, and lialjle 
to be summoned over to the better land, where perhaps I ma}- meet 
again liim whose worth and greatness will be remembered not only 
on the day of your celebration but by the generations that are to 
follow us through coming time. But should life or health fail me 
ere that day shall arrive, I desire here to record that it was my priv- 
ilege to be well acquainted with Mr. Webster for a long course of 
years. I knew him both in jjublic and private life, from the day 
when he first sj^oke on Bunker's Heights to the day of liis death. 
I knew him at the capital of the nation, in Faneuil Hall, and in other 
places on great occasions. I knew him as the farmer of Marshfield, 
and in various relations of life. As a great ajjostle of the American 
Union, the expounder and defender of its constitution, Mr. Webster 
stands forth as the foremost figure in the history of our government, 
high above all around him. To him we are more indebted than to 
any other man for the advocacy of those great i^rinciples of liberty 
and union Avhich nerved the arnas of the North in the great rebellion, 
and gave to us the reunion and prosperity which our nation now 
enjoys. New England has had no such other son, America no more 
illustrious citizen. 

But admired and almost adored as Mr. Webster was, no man was 
ever more misunderstood and misrepresented, in regard to his 7th 
of March sijcech in 1850 ; but history is a great corrector of human 
affairs, and will set this right at last ; and there are veiy few now 
living who do not see in that memorable document the same un- 
swerving patriotism, loyalty, and integrity which were the control- 
ling ijrinciples of his life. The works of ]\Ir. Webster are among 
the most valuable which our nation has produced. "No other set 
of volumes contains more wisdom, patriotism, or eloquence ; and the 
more Ave read them the more will they be admired. The light of his 
gigantic intellect was not like the blaze of the meteor, which leaves 
darkness more intense, but like the glorious sun, shining in all its 
eflulgence around us, and lighting up the way to honor, glory, 
and immortality." These are the words that I uttered on a former 
occasion, and were they my last I could find no better, and from 
which I have nothing to take back. 

As ever, yours, 

I^IARSHALL P. WILDER. 

1798-1886. 



94 APPENDIX. 



FROM JAMES W. BRADBURY. 

Augusta, Me., June 9, 1886. 

Your Excellency Governor Currier, 

Hon. Oilman Marston, Chairman of Legislative Committee : 

Gentlemen, — I have had the honor to receive your kind invitation 
to be present at Concord, on the 17th of June, at the dedication of 
the statue of Daniel Webster, presented by Mr. Cheney to the state 
of New Hampsliire, and to particij^ate in the exercises as guest of 
the state. I appreciate and tliank you for the honor. 

While I regret my inability to be present, I cannot permit the 
occasion to pass without expressing my pleasure to know that such 
a testimonial of appreciation of the great orator of the age is to find 
visible expression in his native state. It is a signal honor to New 
Hampshire to have been the birth2:)]ace of the man who for intel- 
lectual power and commanding eloquence stands foremost amongst 
the illustrious pul^lic men our country has produced. 

When at Washington a few years ago I visited the capitol to look 
upon the statues of the distinguished men that adorn the old repre- 
sentatives' hall of that building, ))ut I found none of Webster. No 
statue of the great " defender of the constitution" in the capitol of the 
Union, the theater of his grandest ^fforts ! As Massachusetts, the 
home of most of his active life and honored by his services, has hith- 
erto waived the pi-ivilege of placing his statue there, will not his 
native state seize the opportunity of securing such distinction for 
herself ? 

It was my good fortune to be associated with Mr. Webster during 
the trying crisis through which our country passed in 1850. While 
my jwlitical affiliations have never been with him, I take pleasure 
in bearing testimony to his unselfish patriotism and ardent devotion 
to the Union. It was no unworthy motive, no selfish ambition, that 
led him to brave the censure of friends he esteemed when he made 
his celebrated 7th of March speech in the senate, and gave his hearty 
support to tlie compromise measiu-es for the settlement of the ques- 
tions that were agitating the countr3\ His course was dictated by 
patriotism. He believed there was danger to the Union, and that 
the compromise provided a way of adjustment comjiatible with the 
honor of both sections of the country. He saw that the excitement 
was intense tlu-oughout the South. They claimed that the AMlmot 
Proviso in tlie pentling bills for the organization of the territories 
wronged them out of their equal interest in the common jjroperty of 



APPENDIX. 9 



r: 



all the states by excluding them from moving there with their house- 
hold as constituted. This mode of reasoning, however specious, 
took hold of the southern mind, already deeply excited by the de- 
nunciations to which they had been exposed on the subject of slav- 
ery. They declared they would not submit to inequality, and avowed 
their determination to withdraw from the Union if the proviso should 
be forced ui^on them. It was obvious that the time w^as more favor- 
able for success in the attempt than could ever occur again. The 
North was increasing more rapidly than the South, and the inequality 
was augmented every year. The northwestern states were linked 
to the South by commercial interests by the Mississippi River as the 
great channel of commerce. The great West was not then united 
with the East by the railroad system that now makes their business 
connection. The South could never again find so plausible a pre- 
text for allegeil wrongs. They might never again be united, and a 
settlement might avert a war or end all future attempts. 

It w^as under these circumstances that Mr. Webster united with the 
conservatives in the support of the compromise. This and all meas- 
ures of compromise w^ere oj^posed by members w^ho occupied extreme 
positions from the North and the South. The idea of danger was 
utterly disbelieved by a large body of Mr. Webster's friends in the 
North. They deemed the thought of any attempt of secession pre- 
posterous, and scouted the threat of it as mere gasconade. 

Subsequent events have thrown such light upon the subject as will 
enable us to determine whether Mr. Webster, or the friends that 
sujiposed he w^as influenced by groundless fears, were right in the 
estimate of danger. 

Ten years afterwards, when the relative strength of the North 
was much greater, — when the South was divided, and four of their 
states took sides with the North, — when the Northwest had become 
connected by railroads with the Atlantic, and no longer dei^ended on 
the Mississippi as her sole channel of commerce, and when the 
South could only allege against the government as a pretext for 
grievances the fact that the president and vice-president (whom they 
by their action had contributed to elect) were both citizens of north- 
ern states, they made the attempt to withdraw from tlie Union ; and 
they were so thoroughly in the belief of their right under the con- 
stitution to do so, and in their determination to succeed, tliat it took 
the united strength of the North with their Southei'n allies, and years 
of war such as the world has seldom if ever seen, whether we regard 
the number of men engaged or the valor with which they fought, to 
I^reserve our glorious Union entire. 

Esto perpekia. How fortunate for tlie North, and the Soutli also. 



96 APPENDIX. 

and for the hope of republican institutions throughout the worki, 
that the struggle was not precipitated in 1850. 

Thus it is that the statesmanship and patriotism of Webster are 
vindicated by subsequent events. 

I have the honor to be, most resi^ectfully, 

Yours, etc., 

JAMES W. BRADBURY. 

FROM LEON ABBETT. 

Trenton, N. J., May 18, 1886. 

Hon. Gilman Marston, Chairman : 

Bear Sir, — Your kind invitation to be present at the New Hamp- 
shire state capital on June 17 next, to attend the dedication of the 
statue of Daniel Webster, is at hand. 

I should be pleased to attend, but state engagements will prevent. 

Yours respectfully, 

LEON ABBETT. 

from ROBERT C. SCHENCK. 

Washington, June 12, 1886. 

His Excellency Moody Currier, Governor of New Hampshire, 
Hon. Gilman Marston, Chairman oj Legislative Committee : 
Gentlemen, — I must beg you to pardon me for not making earlier 
answer to your letter asking me to participate, as a guest of your 
state, in the exercises of the day on the occasion of the dedication of 
the statue of Daniel Webster, at Concord, on the 17th of this 
month. The invitation is one which, on every account, I regard as a 
great and special honor, and if it were possible I should take great 
pleasure, I assure you, in availing myself of the opportunity to be 
present and take part in so interesting a ceremony ; but I am com- 
pelled, reluctantly and regretfully, to decline. I have been hoping 
that it might be convenient for me to so anticipate and arrange a 
summer visit I am intending to make this season to the coast of 
Maine, as to allow of my being at Concord at the date indicated, but 
my engagements here will not permit me to get away soon enough 
for that, and my age and the condition of my health will hardly ad- 
mit of my making two such journeys. 

Excuse me for tlicse i)ersonal explanations. I give them only be 
cause I would not be thought to miss, willingly or lightly, a chance 



APPENDIX. 97 

to show my veneration of the memory of Webster, and my cherished 
appreciation of his greatness. New Hampshire may well he proud 
of the distinction of having given birth to such a man ! 

In one period of my public service — from 1843 to 1851 — it was 
my good fortune to see much of Mr. Webster. There were circum- 
stances which brought me, during a portion of that time, into as close 
association and intimacy with him as, perhaps, was compatible with 
our difference of age and position. As a statesman, a senator, a 
great constitutional lawyer, to be admii-ed and revered, towering 
among his compeers, he certainly lost by nearness of view nothing 
of his majestic stature. 

Thanking you again, gentlemen, for the honor of your invitation 
and the proflfer of New Hampshire hospitality, I am. 

Very respectfully and sincerely, 

Your obedient servant, 

ROBERT C. SCHENCK. 



FROM E. M. STEARNS. 

BoSTOX, June 2, 1886. 
Hon. G. Marston, Concord, N. H. : 

I thank you for your kind invitation to participate in the dedication 
of the statue of Mr. Webster. It would afford me the greatest 
pleasure to be present, especially under the hospitable terms of your 
letter. I should deem it a great honor to be the guest of the state 
which Mr. Webster loved so much, and which was so proud of him. 
My earliest political fealty and devotion was given to Mr. Webster, 
and although a babe in all political lore and experiences, I was en- 
rolled among the " Silver Grey Whigs" and followed his foi'tunes 
while he lived ; and upon his death, it seemed to me that the country 
was left without guide and support, and must stagger as best it could 
with its head buried and gone. 

I fear it will be impossible for me to be present, as professional 
engagements here and at my home so crowd upon me in the busy 
month of June that escape seems out of the question. 

Accept my thanks for your remembrance of me upon this interest- 
ing occasion, and my regrets that I cannot avail myself of your 
kindness. 

Yours very truly, 

E. i\r. STEARNS. 

7 



98 APPENDIX. 

FROM WILLIAM PATERSON. 

Perth Amboy, N. J., June 9, 1886. 

George W. Nesmith, John M. Hill, John H. George, Trustees 

Webster Statue, Concord, N. H. : 

Gentlemen, — Judicial engagements will prevent my acceptance 
of the invitation with which I am honored by you, to attend the dedi- 
cation of a bronze statue of Daniel Webster at the state capital of 
New Hampshire, on Thursday of next week. I regret my inability 
to participate in the exercises of the occasion and assist in paying 
tribute to the memory of that illustrious citizen of your little com- 
monwealth, whose fame as a statesman will be written forever on 
the page of American history. 

I shall not attempt to dwell upon the life and character, the ser- 
vices and the worth of one so exalted in reputation and distinguished 
among men. Those superior and commanding qualities by which a 
long public career was illustrated and finished in immortal glory 
will be portrayed most fitly by the president of the academical insti- 
tution so highly honored by his enrollment among the number of her 
sons. As an alumnus of a sister college, the walls of which bear 
marks of the struggle that gave a continent to freedom, and but few, 
if any, of whose young tribes were faithless in the patriotic cause, 
I should esteem it a rare privilege to unite with the alumni of Dart- 
mouth in honoring him who always stood in civic strife a foremost 
champion of the rights of all the states and all their people. But 
few are living who can recollect with me the crown of glory laid 
upon his head, when more than half a century ago he stood forth, 
peerless of all his peers, as the grand defender of constitutional 
liberty and union ; and keeping steadily in view the price at which 
that liberty was bought, and the perpetuity of the Federal Union, 
which he professed as his great aim, it was most meet that the clos- 
ing eflbrt of his life was to maintain inviolate the sacred compact 
which he ever kept and ever sti-ove to make secure and safe. 

Very respectfully yours, 

AVILLIA^l PATERSON. 



APPENDIX. 99 

FROM CHARLES F. ADAMS, JR. 

Boston, May 28, 1886. 
Hon. Gilman Marston : 

My Bear Sir, — I have to thank you for the invitation sent me 
some clays since to attend the dedication of the statue of Daniel 
Webster, presented to the state of New Hampshire by Mr. Cheney, 
upon the 17th of June. While it would afford me the greatest 
possible pleasure to participate in this occasion, my engagements 
are such as will preclude my so doing. 
Regretting extremely that this should be the case, 

I remain, etc., 

CHARLES r. ADAMS, Jr. 

FROM RKBECCA MILLER. 

Temple, June 11, 1886. 

To Governor Moom Currier and General G. Marston : 

Dear ,Sw-s,— I cannot imagine any thing which would give me 

more pleasure than to avail myself of the honor of your invitation to 

be present at the dedication of the statue of Daniel Webster, so 

generously presented to the state by Mr. Cheney, but the present 

infirm state of my health forbids my going. 

Mr. Webster had no more sincere admirer than his contemporary 

and friend. General Miller, or grandson of whom Col. E. H. Ropes, 

of New Jersey, will be in Concord on the 17th. 

Very respectfully, 

REBECCA MH^LER. 

FROM HORACE FAIRBANKS. 

St. Johnsbury, Vt., June 14, 1886. 
Hon. Gilman Marston, Chairman of Legislative Committee : 

My dear Sir, — Jn reply to your kind invitation to be present at 
the dedication of the statue of Daniel Webster, on the 17th instant, 
would say that till now I had expected to have that pleasure, but 
regret to say that I shall be unavoidably prevented from being 
present. 

Thanking you for your courtesy, I am 

Yours very truly, 

HORACE FAIRBANKS. 



100 APPENDIX. 

from samuel j. raxdall. 

House of Representatives, 
Washington, D. C, May 31, 1886. 

Messrs. George W. Nesmith, John M. Hill, and John H. 

George, Committee of Invitation: 

Dear Sirs, — I acknowledge yonr kind invitation for the 17th prox- 
imo. It would afford me real gratification to witness the ceremonies 
of unveiling the statue of Daniel Webster at your state capital, but 
I fear my public duties will not allow^ me to absent myself from this 
city at that time. 

Daniel Webster was a great man, and the memory of his splendid 
career is enough to enrich not only one state but the wiiole Union, 
whose noblest advocate he was. He was essentially a teacher, and 
his works are full of lessons of w^isdom, which those who would pre- 
serve our free government will do well to cherish. And one of the 
ways of doing so is to keep his memoiy green in the land he loved 
and honored. I shall join heartily with you in the spirit of the 
occasion. 

Thanking you for your courtesy, I am 

Very truly yours, 

SAMUEL J. RANDALL. 



from john lowell. 

3 Pembeuton Square, 

Boston, June 10, 1886. 
Hon. Gilman Marston: 

My dear Sir, — 1 was much gratified to receive, througii j'our 
hands, the invitation of the state to attend the exercises at Concord, 
on the 17th. I should be much pleased to testify, by my presence, 
an appreciation of Mr. Cheney's munificent gift, as well as the ad- 
miration and respect that w^e all feel, and wiiich our posterity will 
feel, for the great defender of the Union, Avhose words did more than 
any other influence to consolidate the opinion of the Kortli, and to 
render the victory of union over secession possible. It unfovt unatcly 
happens that an engagement of long standing which calls me away 
Avill i)i-event my joining with you on that day. 

Yours very truly, 

JOHN LOWELL. 



APPENDIX. 101 

from henry b. harrison. 

Executive Department, 
Hartford, Conn., June 10, 1886. 

To His Excellency, the Governor of Nnv HampsMre: 

Slr^ — I beg yon to accept my apology for having failed to answer 
hitherto your communication inviting me to be present at the dedi- 
cation of the statue of Daniel Webster, in Concord, on the 17th of 
this month. I have waited in the hope that I might be able to accejit 
your courteous invitation, which I find now that I must, with great 
regret, ask leave to decline. 

Very respectfiilly, 

HENRY B. HARRISON. 

from WILLIAM CLAFLIN. 

Boston, June 14, 1886. 
Hon. John H. George : 

Ml/ dear Sir, — It is with sincere regret that I am ol)liged, on ac- 
count of the state of my health, to decline the invitation of your 
committee to be present at the unveiling of the statue of Daniel 
Webster. 

Please accept my thanks for your kind remembrance. 

With great respect, I am 

Yours truly, 

WILLIATil CLAFLIN. 

from ST. JULIAN FILLETTE. 

United States Senate, 
Washington, D. C, June 10, 1886. 

George W. Nesmith, Esq., JohnM. Hill, Esq., John H. George, 

Esq., Committee : 

Gentlemen, — Senator Hampton has been called to South Carolina 
by illness in his family, but before leaving he requested me to say to 
you that it would give him great pleasure to be present at the unveil- 
ing of the Webster statue if his public duties would permit. This, 
he°is sorry to say, is not the case, therefore he must decline your 
polite invitation. I am 

Very tn;ly yours, 

St. JULIAN FILLETTE. 



102 ' APPENDIX. 

FROM CORTLANDT PARKER. 

Newark, N. J., June 4, 1886. 

George W. Nesmith, Esq., John M. Hill, Esq., and John H. 

George, Esq., Trustees, etc. : 

Gentlemen, — I acknowledge with thanks the compliment of your 
request that I should be present at the unveiling and dedication of 
the bronze statue of Daniel Webster, at Concord, on the 17th of 
June instant. It would give me great satisfaction to be able to 
accept this invitation. 

New Hampshire is right in doing honor to the memorj- of this great 
man, intellectually not surpassed, if equaled, by any otlier of the 
great men of our republic. Nor, especially as his exposition of the 
constitution has been settled by arbitrament of arms, as well as by 
legal adjudication, has the time yet arrived when it has ceased to be 
necessary to remember his views, and to seek to impress them upon 
succeeding generations. 

Monuments preach, and the monument of AVebster preaches not 
only nationality, but also those true views of state rights — only 
second to nationality — and through the maintenance of which alone 
will our peculiar nationality be enabled securely to spread and 
flourish. 

New Hampshire and Dartmouth gave much to the world when they 
ushered forth Daniel Webster, and the gratitude of the whole coun- 
tiy is due to them for the deed. 

Regretting my inability to join with the distinguished men who 
will be present on this interesting occasion, I remain 

Yours very respectfully, 

CORTLANDT PARKER. 

FROM CHARLES DEVENS. 

Boston, May G, 1886. 
G. W. Nesmith, Esq., and others, Committee: 

Oentlemcn, — I am very much honored by an invitation to attend 
the dedication of the statue of ]\Ir. Webster, and regret that the day 
assigned compels me to decline it. As president of the Bunker Hill 
Monument Association I am necessarily obliged to attend its meeting 
on that day. 

With thanks for your kindness, I am 

Your obedient seiwant, 

CHARLES DEVENS. 



APPENDIX. 103 

FROM E. F. STONE. 

Washington, May 17, 1886. 
Hon. Gilman Marston : 

Dear Oeneral, — I have the honor of acknowledging the receipt of 
an invitation to be present at the services of the 17th of Jnne next, 
in dedication of the statue of Daniel Webster, the illustrions son of 
New Hampshire, and sincerely regi-et that my duties here will make 
it imjjossible for me to attend. 

Yours truly, 

E. F. STONE. 

from LEOPOLD MORSE. 

Boston, May 29, 1886. 
Mr. G. Marston, Chairman, Concord, N. H. : 

Mr. Leopold Morse returns thanks for the honor conferred by your 
kind invitation of 11th instant, to attend the dedication of the statue 
of the immortal Webster, and regrets exceedingly that absence in 
Europe will jDrevent his acceptance. 

FROM ANDREW H. YOUNG. 

Columbus Barracks, Ohio, June 14, 1886. 

Hon. George W. Nesmith, Hon. John M. Hill, and John H. 
George, Esq. : 

Gentlemen, — Your favor of May 1 inviting me to attend at the 
unveiling and dedication of a statue of Daniel Webster, at Concord, 
on the 17th instant, was duly received. I have delayed answering it 
until to-day, hoping and expecting that I should be able to be 
present and partici2:)ate in the ceremonies, but I regret to find that 
my public duties will i^revent. 

In common with all New Hampshire men, I regard Webster as the 
gi'eatest American, and his memory deserving of all homage from 
his native state. 

Thanking you for the invitation, I am, gentlemen, 

Very respectfully, 

ANDREW H. YOUNG. 



104 APPENDIX. 

FKOM S. "VV. MAKSTON. 

Boston, Jmie 12, 1886. 
Hon. Gilman Marstox: 

My dear Gilman, — Thanks for your invitation for the 17th in- 
stant. I tliink no one has lived in my day for whom I had a greater 
veneration than for Mr. Webster, and I had the pleasure of seeing 
him a good deal during the many years of my residence at the Re- 
vere House ; and ]\Ir. Cheney, the donor of tlie statue, is also an old 
friend. But a prior engagement to attend the marriage of a daugh- 
ter of a dear friend at Pittsfield, on that day, will prevent my 

acceptance. 

With sincere regrets. 

Affectionately yours, 

S. W. MARSTON. 

FKOM AVIIXIAM S. GARDNER. 

jSTeavton, Mass., June 11, 1886. 

To His Excellency Moody Currier, Governor of New Hamp- 
shire : 

Sir, — Your favor inviting me to be present at Concord on Thurs- 
day next, as a guest of the state, to participate in the ceremonies 
attending the dedication of the statue of Daniel Webster, has been 
gi-atefully received. I regret tliat I cannot attend and enjoy the 
pleasure of joining in the exercises of the day. You will please 
to accept my thanks for the honor of your kind invitation. 

Your very obedient servant, 

WILLIAM S. GARDNER. 

FROM T. ^Y. BONAPARTE. 

Washington, D. C, June 13, 1886. 

G. Marston, Chairman of Legislative Committee: 

Sir, — 1 have the honor to acknowledge the receipt of the invita- 
tion to assist at the dedication of the statue of Daniel AVebster, on 
Thursday, June 17. I regret exceedingly that previous engage- 
ments will prevent William Bonaparte and me from being present 
on that occasion . 

With many thanks for having thought of us, I remain 

Res]Dectfully yours, 

T. W. BONAPARTE. 



APPENDIX. 



FROM EDWARD MCPHERSON. 



105 



1701 Massachusetts Ave., 
AVashingtox, D. C, June 3, 188(5. 

Gen. Gilman Marston: 

My clear Marston, — ! have your kind invitation for tlie 17th in- 
stant, and would gladly accept if I could be absent. That is out of 
the question, and I can only thank you for thinking of me. 

With high regard. 

Very truly yours, 

EDWARD Mcpherson. 

from frederick a. johnson. 

House of Representatives U. S., 

Washington, D. C, May 26, 1886. 

Hon. Gilman Marston, Chairman: 

Dear Sir, — Please accept my thanks for your kind invitation to 
be present at the dedication of the statue of Daniel Webster, on the 
17th of June next, and my regrets that my duties here will prevent 

my acceptance of the same. 

Yours respectfully, 

FREDERICK A. JOHNSON. 



from EDWARD TUCK. 

New York, May 27, 1886. 
Gen. Gilman Marston: 

My clear Sir, — Since my return to New York I have received 
from Exeter an official invitation to the AVebster celebration at Con- 
cord evidently addressed to me by you. I beg to thank you most 
sincerely for your kindness in thinking of me, and the compliment 
of the invitation, which I highly appreciate. As IVIrs. Tuck and I 
shall be moving to Newport at about the time of the celebration, I 
I doubt if I shall be able to be present ; but should I be there, 1 
shall hope to have an opportunity to thank you in person for your 
courtesy. At all events, I shall call upon you on my next visit to 

Exeter. 

I am, dear sir, 

Yours very truly, 

EDWARD TUCK. 



106 APPENDIX. 

from c. a. boutelle. 

House of Representatives U. S., 

Washington, D. C, May 30, 1886. 
Hon. Gilman Marston: 

My dear Gen. Marston, — Yowv polite favor of the 28tli is at hand, 
and I blame myself for causing you so much trouble of writing. 

I have no doubt the occasion will be most interesting, and if I 
should be in New England at the time, I certainly should make an 
effort to visit your beautiful city of Concord on that day. I fear I 
shall be kept here, however. 

Vei-y truly yours, 

C. A. BOUTELLE. 

from w. r. morrison. 

House of Representatives U. S., 

Washington, D. C, May 16, 1886. 

Hon. Gilm'an Marston, Chairman of Legislative Committee: 

Bear Sir, — I write to acknowledge your kind invitation to partici- 
pate in the exercises of the coming dedication at your state capitol, 
and to express my regrets at not being able to accept. 

Respectfully yours, 

W. R. MORRISON. 

from Gf. c. burrows. 

House of Representatives U. S., 

Washington, D. C, May 21, 1886. 

His Excellency, Governor of State : 

Bear Sir, — In reply to yours of the 11th instant, I regret to say 
that my duties here will prevent me from accepting your kind invi- 
tation. 

Yours, 

Gf. C. BURROWS. 

from SAMUEL DIBBLE. 

House of Representatives, 

Washington, June 8, 1880. 

His Excellency Moody Currier, Governor of Ncio Hampshire : 

Sir, — Permit me to acknowledge, with thanks, your courteous in- 
vitation to me to be present at the dedication of the statue of Daniel 



APPENDIX. 107 

Webster, at Concord, on the 17th instant. I had hoped to accei^t 
your jn-oftered hospitality, and, as a Sonth Carolinian, to join my 
fellow-countrymen of New Hampshire in doing honor to the memory 
of the great New England statesman, whose career belongs not 
simph? to state or section, but to the entire country ; but the emer- 
gencies attendant on the closing weeks of the session will prevent 
my attendance, and I can only send my regrets, begging that you 
will accept also the assurance of my respectful consideration. 

Very truly yours, 

SAMUEL DIBBLE. 

from william walter phelps. 

House of Representatives U S., 

Washington, D. C, May 27, 1886. 

To G. M/VRSTon, Esq., Chairman of Legislative Committee : 

Dear Sir, — I thank you for your kind invitation to participate in 
the exercises of presenting a statue of Daniel Webster to your state, 
and regret that my public duties here will iJi'event mj' being present. 

Truly yours, 

WHXIAM WALTER PHELPS. 

from samuel n. green. 

Massachusetts Historical Society, 
30 Tremont St., Boston, June 14, 1886. 

Hon. G. Marston, Chairman of Legislative Com,mittee : 

Sir, — I have the honor to acknowledge the receipt of your polite 
invitation to be present at the dedication of the Webster statue, on 
the 17th, but a previous engagement for that day will prevent my 

acceptance. 

Very respectfull}-, 

SAMUEL N. GREEN. 

from peter b. olney. 

120 Broadway, 
New York, June 11, 1886. 

His Excellency Moodit Currier, Governor, 

Hon. G. Marston, Chairman of Legislative Committee : 

Sirs, — I beg to acknowledge the receipt of the invitation to be 

present at the unveiling of the statue of Daniel Webster, at Concord, 



108 APPENDIX. 

on the 17th instant. I hojie to have the honor and pleasure of at- 
tending' as one of her o-uests on this occasion, when the state of Xew 
Ham2)shire pays fitting tribute to the memory of her great son. 
I am, dear sirs, 

Ver}' truly jours, 

PETER B. OLNEY. 

from charles f. maxderson. 

United States Senate, 
Washington, D. C, May 11, 1886. 

Messrs. George W. Xesmith, John ]M. Hill, and John H. 

George, Trustees for the procurement and erection of a statue of 

Daniel Webster, at Concord, N. H. : 

Gpntlemen, — Your note of invitation, dated May 1, 1886, to be 
present at the unveiling and dedication of tlie 2)roi)ose(.l statue to 
Daniel Webster, at Concord, N. H., on the 17th proximo, was 
received. I regret exceedingly that public business will prevent 
my attendance, but trust the day may be auspicious, and the i^artici- 
pants suificiently numerous and representative in character to fully 
attest the esteem in which the eminent statesman and patriot was 
lield while living, and his memory and good deeds cherished when 
dead. Thanking you for the courtesy of your kind invitation, I 
remain, 

Very respectfullj', 

CHARLES F. MANDERSON. 

from john little. 

House of Representatives U. S., 

Washington, D. C, June 11, 1886. 

Hon. Moody Currier, Governor, Concord, N. H. : 

Bear Sir. — Your kind invitation to be jn-esent, June 17, at the 
dedication of the statue of Daniel Webster, the most gifted of Amer- 
ican statesmen and orators, was duly received. Answer has been de- 
layed with the hope of being able to accept the invitation. I now 
see that public duties here will prevent. Thanking you for the 
honor, I am 

Very respectfully, etc., 

JOHN LITTLE. 



APPENDIX. 109 

FR03I DARWIN E. WARE. 

Boston, June 14, 188G. 

Messrs. George W. Nesmith, John M. Hill, axd John H. 

George, Trustees: 

Gentlemen, — I desire to acknowledge the honor of yonr request to 
be present at the ceremonies for the dedication of a bronze statue of 
Daniel Webster, at Concord, X. H., on the 17th of this month, and 
regret that other engagements on that day oblige me to forego the 
great pleasure which I should have in accepting your kind invitation 
and taking part in an occasion so deeply interesting. 

Very trvily yours, 

DARWIN E. WARE. 

from a. l. soule. 

5 Fairfield St. 
Hon. Gilman Marston, Chairman : 

Dear Sir, — I regret that the state of my health makes it impossi- 
ble for me to accept your kind invitation to be present at the unveil- 
ino- of a statue of Daniel Webster, at Concord, N. H.. on the 17th 

instant. 

Yours truly, 

A. L. SOULE. 

FROM C. A. BOUTELLE. 

House of RErRESEXTAXivES U. S., 

Washington, D. C, May 19, 1886. 
Hon. Gilman Marston: 

My dear General Marston, — Xom pleasant letter of the 17th 
received, and I am obliged for the cordial invitation. Of course you 
understood that my purpose in sending back the former card was 
solely humorous. Quite a number of the invitations received here 
were evidently intended for different governors, and probably 
became mixed in mailing. 

I need not assure you that I appreciate the courtesy, and should 
gi-eatly enjoy visiting Concord at the time of the dedication, but 
regret that I shall be unable to leave here at that time. 

Sincerely yours, 

C. A. BOUTELLE. 



110 APPENDIX. 

from c austen browne. 

82 Water St., 
Boston, June 12, 1886. 
Hon. G. Marston, Concord, N. E. : 

Bear Sir, — I have to acknowledge, with sincere thanks, your 
invitation to participate, as the guest of the state, in the exercises 
attending the dedication of the Webster statue, on the 17th, but am 
obliged to deny myself the pleasure of being present. 

Very truly yours, 

CAUSTEN BROWNE. 

FROM E. T. BUELEY. 

Lawrence, June 15, 1886. 
CoL. John H. George : 

Dear Sir, — 1 regret to say that I find myself unable to avail my- 
self of your kind invitation to visit Concord on the 17th instant. 
Thanking you for the invitation, I remain 

Yours truly, 

'e. T. BURLEY. 

from t. l. cungman. 

Washington City, June 15, 1886. 
Hon. Moody Currier : 

Honored Sir, — Your favor inviting me to be present, as a guest 
of yom- state, on the occasion of the dedication of the statue of 
Daniel Webster, Avas received some weeks ago. I did not make an 
earlier reply because I was in hopes that I might be able to be 
present. I now regret to be obliged to decline on account of business 
engagements. This is to me a cause of much regret, as Mr. Webster 
and I were on terms of great intimacy for many years during the 
latter part of his life. 

His remarkable strength and breadth of intellect, his public spirit 
and patriotism, his freedom from selfishness and intrigues for his 
personal advancement, and the grandeur and elevation of his 
thoughts and emotions, gave him a position surpassed by no man of 
his day. I am much gratified to know that his native state has taken 
proper steps to show her appreciation of his great qualities and 
pul)lic services. 

With sentiments of the highest respect, I am 

Very sincerely yours, 

T. L. CLINGMAN. 



APPENDIX. Ill 

FROM CHARLES P. XnOMPSON. 

Gloucester, Mass., June 14, 1886. 
Hon. Moody Currier, Governor of Neiv Hampshire, 

Hon. Gilman Marston, Chairman of Legislative Committee : 
Bear Si7'S, — Your invitation to participate at Concord, on the 17th 
of June, 1886, in tlie dedication of the statue of Daniel Webster 
presented to tlie state of New Hampsliire by Benjamin Pierce 
Cheney, has been received, and I deeply regret that I am compelled 
to say that I cannot be with you on that most interesting occasion. 
A statue at the capital of his native state is certainly a most appro- 
priate exjiression of her appreciation of his character, princij^les, 
and services. The commonwealth of his adoption has long since 
given practical expression of her judgment of the appropriateness 
of such a memorial. It will be a constant instructor of the people 
in the dut}^ of patriotic devotion to the Union, the constitution, and 
liberty regulated by law. Love of country was his inspiration. And 
he devoted all his great powers to the promotion of the prosperity 
and glory of his country. While his memory is venerated we may 
confidently cherish the hope that the objects of his patriotic and self- 
sacrificing labors will be cherished and defended. 

Again expressing my regret that I shall not be able to participate 
in the exercises of the dedication, I am 

Very respectfully your obedient servant, 

CHARLES P. THOMPSON. 

from AARON F. STEVENS. 

Nashua, N. H., June 15, 1886. 

Hon. Moody Currier, Governor, 

Hon. Gilman Marston, Chairman of Legislative Committee : 
Gentlevicn, — I have delayed my answer to your kind invitation to 
be present, as a guest of the state, at the dedication of the Webster 
statue on the 17tli instant, intending to avail myself of the pleasure of 
its acceptance if not prevented by ill health. It is with the sincerest 
regret that I am compelled to absent myself from this most interest- 
ing ceremonial. No true citizen of New Hampshire can fail to ap- 
preciate the noble gift which our state has accej^ted, or to covet the 
honor of being present at its dedication. It is, indeed, a memorial 
to the greatest citizen of New Hampshire, to the foremost lawyer 
and statesman of his generation. Let us trust that this majestic 



112 APPENDIX. 

form will stand an enduring tribute to the unrivaled genius of her 
greatest son — the orator and statesman whose eloquence turned 
back the tide of nullification, exploded the heresy of secession, and 
imjilanted in the hearts of his intelligent countrymen for all future 
time the true nature of our government, and the character and value 
of our national Union. 

I am with sincere respect, yoxu" obedient servant, 

AARON F. STEVENS. 

FROM LYMAN TRUMBULL. 

Chicago, III., June 15, 1886. 
Governor Moody Currier : 

Dear Sir, — It would give me pleasure to iDarticijjate in the exer- 
cises attendant on the dedication of the statue of Daniel Webster, if 
circumstances would admit of my attendance. 

As a great lawyer, statesman, and orator, he was not only foremost 
among the men of his day and generation, but he has left for the 
imitation and admiration of mankind Avorks which they will study as 
models for generations to come. It is well that the features of such 
a man should be i^reserved in marble and metals, but no monument 
will be as enduring as the thoughts which sprang from his giant in- 
tellect, which are preserved in the annals of his country's history, 
and have spread through the civilized world. 

Yours very trul3% 

LYMAN TRUMBULL. 

FROM CHARLES DEVENS. 

Boston, May 28, 1886. 

Hon. Moody Currier, Governor of New Hampshire, 
Hon. Gilman Marstox, Chairman Legislative Committee : 
Gentlemen, — I am much lionored by the invitation to join, as a 
guest of the state of New Hampshire, in the dedication of a statue 
to her illustrious son, Daniel Webster, and regret that my engage- 
ments as i^resident of the Bunker Hill Monument Association, to 
which Mr. Webster himself rendered such splendid service, compel 
me to decline it. 

T am quite sure tliat tlie association at its meeting on the 17th will 
not fail to render its tribute to Iiis memor}'. 

Your obedient servant, 

CHARLES DEVENS. 



APPENDIX. 113 



FROM GEORGE S. BOUTWELL. 



Washington, D. C, May 19, 188(5. 

To His Excellency Governor Moody Currier: 

Sir, — 1 have had the honor to receive your invitation to attend 
the dedication of a statue of Daniel Webster, at the capitol of the 
state of New Hampshire, the 17th day of June next. The arrange- 
ments that I have made and the obligations of business resting upon 
me will prevent me from attending the ceremonies. This I regret, 
as there is no one of the statesmen of a former generation to whom 
the country is more largely indebted than to Mr. Webster. 

Very truly. 

Your most obedient servant, 

GEORGE S. BOUTWELL. 

FROM THE governor OF FLORIDA. 

Executive Office, 
Tallahassee, Fla., May 15, 1886. 

To His Excellency Moody Currier, Governor of New Eainp- 
shire : 

Governor, — I have the honor to acknowledge the receipt of your 
courteous invitation to be present, as a guest of your state, to partici- 
pate in an honor to the distinguished memory of one who, as time 
rolls on, is more and more generally recognized as the grandest in- 
tellectual production of our country. With assurances of my sincere 
regret that my official duties will not permit me to avail myself of 
your courtesy, I have the honor to be, with high esteem. 

Your obedient servant, 

E. A. PERRY, 
Governor oj Florida. 

FROM JAMES 11. JOHNSON. 

Bath, N. H., June 1, 1886. 
Governor of New Hampshire : 

Bear Sir, — Your invitation to attend the dedication of the statue 
of Daniel Webster, at Concord, June 17, as guest of the state, gives 
me much pleasure, and I deeply regret that the intirmities of age 
will prevent me from accepting it. 

I was present at the laying of the corner-stone of Bunker Hill 

8 



114 APPENDIX. 

Monument, and heard Daniel Webster's famous si^eech in which he 
said : " Let it rise ! let it rise ! let it rise, till it meets the sun in its 
coming, and let the earliest light of the morning gild it, and depart- 
ing day linger and play upon its summit." I knew him well the 
four years I was a member of the house, and heard him s^Deak in the 
senate many times, and always with a thrill of pleasure and delight 
in the thought that we were from the same state, and had a jiride in 
its granite hills. He was the greatest man I ever met, and I rejoice 
that Mr. Benjamin Pierce Cheney has i^resented his statue to the 
state, thus connecting his own worthy name with one whom New 
Hamijshire cherishes as her most intellectual and talented son. 

I oifer my sincere thanks to the state for the comjoliment of the 
invitation. 

Most respectfully yours, 

JAMES H. JOHNSON. 

from b. m. cctciieox, m. c. 

House of Representatives U. S., 

Washington, D. C, May 26, 1886. 

Hon. Moody Currier, Governor of New Hampshire : 

Dear Sir, — I have the honor to acknowledge the receipt of your 
invitation to participate in the exercises connected with the dedica- 
tion of the statue of Daniel Webster, at the state capitol, June 17, 
1886. It would give me the greatest gratification to be able to be 
present on that most interesting occasion, in my own native county, 
but my official duties here will forbid me that jirivilege. With 
thanks for the invitation, I am 

Very truly yours, 

B. M. CUTCHEON, M. C. 

from c. c. comstock. 

House of Representatives U. S., 

Washington, D. C, May 26, 1886. 

To the Hon. Moody Currier, Governor of New Hampshire : 

Dear Sir, — Please accept my thanks for your kind invitation to 
attend the dedication of the statue of the world-renowned statesman, 
Daniel Webster, at Concoid, on tlie 17th of June next. I should be 
more than pleased to again visit my native state on that occasion 
were it possible for me to do so. Although for the last thirty-three 



I 



APPENDIX. 115 

years my adopted home has been in the great and now wealthy state 
of Michigan, I have with gratitude ever been mindful of the lessons 
of industry and economy taught me in the dear old granite state, 
and I remain, dear sir. 

Most truly your obedient servant, 

C. C. COMSTOCK. 

FROM JOHN ir. REAGAN. 

Committee on Commerce, 

House of REPRESEXTATrv^ES, 
Washington, D. C, May 26, 1886. 
Hon. Moody Currier, 

Hon. C Marston: 

Your circular letter of May 11, inviting me to be jiresent at the 
dedication of the statue of Daniel Webster, at the state capitol, at 
Concord, Thui'sday, June 17, 1886, is just received. JNIy duties here 
will deny me the pleasure of being present and jiarticipating in the 
ceremonies connected with the dedication of the statue in honor of 
Mr. Webster. His great learning, his great ability, and great pa- 
triotism, and the veneration in which his virtues are held by the 
whole American people, make it eminently fit that his native state 
should commemorate his life, his services, and his worth by the 
erection of a statue, and I would gladly participate in the ceremonies 
of its inauguration if my duties here were of a nature that I could 
abandon them for the time being. 

Yours very respectfully, 

JOHN H. REAGAN. 

FROM J. R. DOOLITTLE. 

Royal Insurance Building, 

Chicago, June 1, 1886. 

To the Governor, and Chairman of the Legislative Committee of the 

State of New Hampshire : 

Oentlemen, — Your in^•itation to be i^resent at the dedication of 
the statue of Daniel Webster, at the capitol, in Concord, on the 17th 
of Jime instant, and to jjarticipate in the exercises of that day, as a 
guest of the state, is duly received. I would dearly love to accept 
it, but I am constrained to decline. It would, indeed, be an honor 
and a joy to be there, and to stand among those who, in looking upon 



116 APPENDIX. 

the statue of the great son of New Ham])shire, will call to mind 
those words, never more dear to every true American heart than now, 
which in a great crisis came from the depths of his soul, fifty years 
ago: "Liberty and union, now and forever, one and inseparable!" 
That utterance, that inspiration, sustained by President Jackson, the 
great son of South Carolina, crushed out the first attempt at disunion 
in 1832 ; that same idea, in which alone the great republic lives and 
moves and has its being, triumphed in tlie great civil war. It tri- 
umjjhed not only because it is true, — and what is true is from God, 
— but because that idea rules the hearts and lives of the American 
people, and always will. In that idea alone we conquered. To that 
idea the South surrendered. On that idea peace has come, and the 
Union under the constitution has been re-established at last; a Union 
in which every state and every citizen has equal rights, under the 
constitution and laws. All honor to the great senator. 

Resi^ectfull}" yours, 

J. Pt. DOOLITTLE. 

from samuel j. kakdall. 

House of Representatives, 
Washington, D. C, May 31, 1886. 

His Excellency Moody Currier, Governor of New Hampshire, 
Hon. Oilman Marston, Chairman of Legislative Committee : 

Dear Sirs, — I acknowledge the honor of your invitation to i^ai'- 
ticipate, as guest of the state, in the dedication of the statue of 
Daniel Webster presented by Benjamin Pierce Cheney, at the state 
capitol, June 17 next. While it will be impossible for me at that 
time to absent myself from my public duties, and while I regret my 
inability to accejit your courteous invitation, I shall gladly join in 
the spirit of the occasion. We liave had many great men, but as an 
orator Webster remains peerless ; as a statesman he overcame by his 
wonderful exjiosition all assailants of the i^rinciples of our free 
government, and in nothing was he greater than in the noble fidelity 
with which he maintained his faith to the last moment of his life. 
His memory is deeply cherished, as it ought to be, in every corner 
of the land. 

With personal esteem, I am 

Very truly yours, 

SAIMUEL J. RANDALL. 



APPENDIX. 



117 



from g. g. vest. 

United States Senate, 
Washington, D. C, May 14, 1886. 
Governor Moody Currier : 

2),,^,. Sir, — Youv vevy kind invitation of the Uth instant, inviting 
me to participate in the exercises attending the dedication of the 
statue of Daniel Webster, on June the 17th next, has been received. 
I desire to return my thanks, and to express ray regret that other en- 
gagements of an imperative nature will prevent my accepting your 

invitation. 

I especially regret to be compelled to so write, for the reason that 
nothino- would give me greater pleasure than to evidence in the most 
public°manner my great admiration for the public character of Mr. 
Webster and my appreciation of his great services to our common 
country. His reputation as a statesman and lawyer will last so long 

as our country exists. Very truly, etc., ^xt^ot^ 

G. G. VJiiol. 

FROM W^ C. WHITNEY. 

Navy Department, 
Washington, D. C, May 14, 1886. 
To His Excellency Moody Currier, Governor of New Hampshire : 
Sir —Your kind invitation to participate in the exercises of the 
day as a guest of the state of New Hampshire, on the occasion of 
the dedication of the statue of Daniel Webster, at Concord, on Thurs- 
day June 17, 1886, has been received. It would give me pleasure 
to be present, but my engagements are such as will not permit 

I trust that the ceremonies may in every way be worthy ot the 
illustrious statesman whom you so appropriately remember. 
With many thanks, I have the honor to be 

Vei-y truly yovirs, 

W. C. WHITNEY. 

FROM ABRAM S. HEWITT. 

House of Representatives, 
Washington, D. C, May 18, 1886. 
His Excellency Moody Currier, Governor of New Hampshire, 
Hon. Gilman Marston, Chairman of Legislative ComvuUee, 
Concord N. IT. .' 

Ge^Ulemen, - 1 have the honor to acknowledge the receipt of your 
invitation to be present at the state capitol, in Concord, on Thursday, 



118 APPENDIX. 

the 17th of June next, and to pai'ticipate in the exercises attendant 
upon the dedication of the statue of Daniel Webster. If it were in 
my power to leave Washington at the date indicated, I should cer- 
tainly come to New Hampshire in order to manifest the profound 
admiration which I entertain for the unrivaled abilities of the most 
distino-uished son of New Hampshire, whose services cannot be held 
in too much honor by the citizens of our common country. The 
longer I live the more profound is my appreciation of the wonderful 
intellect and the broad statesmanship of the great expounder of the 
constitution. If I could be sure that his teachings would always be 
heeded by his countrymen, I should have absolute confidence in the 
perpetuity of our free institutions. I can only commend the study 
of his work and his career to the rising generation, in the hope that 
they will profit by his great example. 
I have the honor to be, very respectfully, 

Your obedient servant, 

ABRAM S. HEWITT. 



FROM GEORGE E. RICHARDSON. 

Lowell, Thursday, June 10, 1886. 
General Gilman Marston, Chairman of Legislative Committee : 

Bear Sir, — 1 have received, and accept with great pleasure, your 
polite invitation to be present at the dedication of a statue of New 
Hampshire's greatest son. 

Remembering well the profound impression which Daniel Web- 
ster's mere presence once made upon my youthful mind, I feel 
assured that his "counterfeit presentment" will lead others to a 
study of the life and character of him, who, as a statesman and a 
lawyer, occupied for so many years the very first rank in American 
history, and whose published speeches, whether delivered in the 
forum or at the bar, are to-day not only models of the purest Eng- 
lish, but abound in periods of the sublimest eloquence. 

Your state will gratefully cherish the memory of another son, wha 
has o-enerouslv caused this statue to be erected as an ornament to it& 
capital and a lesson to its people. 

I have the honor to subscribe myself. 

Very respectfully yours, 

GEORGE F. RICHARDSON. 



ORIGINAL DEED OE THE WEBSTER HOME. 



The following is a copy of the original deed of the 
home farm upon which Daniel Webster was born, framed 
and presented to Benjamin P. Cheney, Esq., by Fred F. 
Hassam, June 17, 1886 : 

Know all men by these Presents that we Benjamin Iluntoon & 
John Collins of Salisbury in the County of Hillsborough & State of 
New Hampshire being a committee of the Proprietors of Salisbury 
Late Stevenstowa For and in Consideration of the sum of ^ Forty 
Eight Pounds Lawful money to us in hand for the use of Said Pro- 
prfetors before the Dalivery hereof well and truly Paid by Ebenezer 
Webster of Salisbury in the County and State aforesaid Gentlemen 
the Receipt whereof we Do hereby acknowledge have Given Granted 
bargained and Sold and Do in our Capasity as a Committee Give 
GraTit bargain Sell aliene enfeeoff convey and Confirm unto him the 
said Ebenezer Webster his heirs and assigns forever a Certain Peace 
or Parsel of Land Lying in the township of Salisbury aforesaid Con- 
taining about twenty acres more or Less (viz) beginning at the 
Southwesterly Corner bound of the Intervale Lott Number Eighty 
that was Laid out to the P.ight of Sam'l Solly and Clement I\Lirch 
then Running westerly perelal with the Southerly side line of Said 
Lot till it Strikes the Easterly Side line of the 100 acre Lot No 1 
originally Phillip Call.s then Northerly on Said Line to the North- 
easterly Corner bound, of Said 100 acre Lot then Easterly till it 
Strikes the Southwesterly Corner of the GO acre Lot No 1 originally 
Said Phillip Call.s then Southeasterly on the Southerly Side Line of 
said 60 acre Lot till it Comes to the North westerly Corner bounds 
of the Intervale Lot No. 75 originally Laid out to the Right of 
Joshua Webster jr then Southerly to the bounds first mentioned : To 
have and to hold the above Granted and bargained Premises together 



120 APPENDIX. 

with all the Privileges and aijpnrtenances to the Same appertaining 
to him the Said Ebenezer Webster his heirs and assigns as an abso- 
lute Estate of inheritance in fee Simple forever and we the Said 
Benjamin Huntoon and John Collins in our Capasity as a Committee 
Do Covenant and Engage by these Presents to warrant and defend 
the above Demised Premises to him the Said Webster his heirs and 
assigns against the Lawful Claims and Demands of all Persons 
whomsoever in witness whereof we have hereunto Set our Hands 
and Seals this Ninth Day of October Anno Domini 1781. 

T> . • TT + ('Commitee 

Beniamin Huntoon, S ^.^^^. ^^^^^ 

JohnCollms. | of Land. 

Signed Sealed'and Delivered in Presence of us 
John Collins Gale 
Joseph Bartlet 

The back of the deed has the following : 

Hillsborough ss Salisbury October 9th 1781 Then the Within 
Named Benjamiii^Huntoon & John Collins Personally appeared & 
aekuowledg-ed the within Instrument to be their free act & Deed 

Before me 

Joseph Bartlett 

Just. Peace 

Deed from 

Huntoon & Collins 

to Webster 

Hillsborough ss Reed 

12; Dec; 1787. 

Recorded Lib. 18 : 
Fol; 458: & 
Examined 
p. Moses Nichols R D R 

Colo Webster Salisbury. 



I 



{i.vM'.'.ii' 



LIBRARY OF CONGRESS 



011 895 147 5 • 



